Living With The Turtles!
by TMNTFan16
Summary: Emma Dwyer loses everything in a fire. Her life is shattered, leaving her gutted. She moves to the Big Apple, USA only to find herself caught up with some extraordinary friends... Perhaps even more than friends! Which Turtle will she end up with in the end? Only time will tell.
1. Tragedy

The day started out like any other for Emma Dwyer. She woke up, put on her school uniform, ate breakfast, and headed off to school.

Everything was perfect. Her dad had a great job as an inventor for a science company. She had a decent sized house. She really couldn't complain about her life. She had good looks - sandy blond, curly hair and sea green eyes - a great dad, and everything she could possibly ask for.

Emma lived in London, England. It was always dark and wet there but it was home to her. Nothing ever went wrong for her until now.  
Emma was standing in front of her house. She saw smoke rise up to the sky. Flames consumed the place where she grew up. She just stood there and cried. Tears ran down her face uncontrollably.  
"Please! My dad is in there! Please, someone, help!" She screamed.

A police woman walked over to her. She gently placed a hand on Emma's back.  
"I'm sorry, but we couldn't get your dad out. The house was already falling apart when we got here. He's gone." The woman said.

Emma fell to her knees. Sobbing and heart broken, she sat there for hours. It began to rain. The house was all stubble. You couldn't tell it was even a house anymore. Emma was soaked. Eventually the woman from before took her to the police station. She stayed there for two whole days.  
Emma was taken to an office in the police station. It was really quiet. She was all alone in the small room. She hadn't spoken at all since the fire. _Why did this have to happen?!  
_

A man entered the room she was in. He was dressed in a black suit. He carried a small rectangular briefcase and a black umbrella in his hands. He sat down on a chair across from her.  
"Hello, Miss Dwyer. My name is Mr. Rhenolds. I'm here to discuss a matter of business with you. Since your father was killed in the fire, you will inherit everything he owned. Unfortunately you may not do that until you have turned 21." He said calmly.

"So, what will I do in the meantime? I don't have anywhere to go." She asked.

"You have an uncle in New York. He the closest and most reliable, you will stay with him. If that is not acceptable, I could try to put you in a good foster home until you're old enough to be on your own. It's your choice, Miss Dwyer."

Emma considered both options carefully before she answered. "I'd rather not stay in a foster home. I've never met my uncle so I might as well go to New York."

"Is that your final decision?"

"Yes."

"Well, then I'm off to do a little paper work. I shall contact your uncle and explain the situation to him. Good day, Miss Dwyer."

Mr. Rhenolds picked up his briefcase and walked out of the room. Emma was left alone once more.

_I guess it won't be so bad in New York. Once I get used to it I'll be fine, right? Who am I kidding. I'm going to be living with a complete stranger in a completely different environment! How could this get any worse?  
__

Exactly three weeks later...

Emma had just arrived in New York City. She was riding a subway train to the street where her uncle lived. It was pitch black in the tunnel. She was sitting in a seat in the corner of the train. She watched as so many people got on and off, pushing and shoving each other.

Emma was wearing her favorite denim skirt with dark purple leggings. Her top was a pale purple along with light blue pattern in the middle of the shirt. It was kinda chilly outside, so she wore a white hoodie.

Emma was so nervous about meeting her uncle, she gripped her duffle bag too hard. It made a weird print on the palm of her hand, but she didn't care. Her light pink purse she clutched to her side, afraid of losing it.

The train ride seemed like it lasted forever until her stop finally came. She got off the train and walked up a few flights of stairs to the street above. It was really dark out. The lamps on the street were dim. Her uncle's house was supposedly right across the street in apartment building 117.

She gulped and crossed to the other side. Pulling her duffle bag along. There weren't very many cars passing by so she easily got to the sidewalk.

Emma knocked on the door to the apartment building 117. No answer. All the lights were out in the whole building. It looked abandoned. She tried pushing on the door but it wouldn't open. She then tried pulling, still wouldn't open.

_This was the right address, I'm sure of it. Where is my uncle? Did he forget I was coming? Oh, maybe he has a back door and uses that as his main door. Most people in England do that so I guess people over here do it too. _

Emma stepped off the porch and looked down an alley to her left. It was creepy looking. Barely anything was visible down there except for a small light that showed a door towards the end.

_That's gotta be it! I can't wait to actually meet him. Wonder what he's like?  
_Emma picked her duffle bag back up and started walking down the spooky alleyway.  
_

"Leo, my sensor's picking up a group of Purple Dragons nearby. Think we should check it out?"  
Donnie looked over at the fearless leader.

Leonardo was leaning on a wall catching his breath. Leo and his three brothers had been out since 7:00 P.M. fighting the thugs known as Purple Dragons. He was exhausted and knew his brothers, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo, we're too. It was only a matter of time before Master Splinter woke up and they would have to return back to their home in the sewers. He knew they would all be in serious trouble if Master Splinter found out that they snuck out.

He looked over at Raph and Mikey. They were holding up pretty good but how long could they last. They were covered in bruises and cuts, but it didn't stop them from bringing justice to those darn Purple Dragons.  
"Yeah, where are they?" Leo asked.

"Approximately three blocks away. Not too far."

"Okay, let's move out. Guys, be careful though. We are tired and run down. We must stay alert. Got it?" With that Leo jumped to the next roof.

Mickey and Raph jumped at the same time. Donnie following behind them.

"Hey, Raph?" Mikey asked before hopping across to the next roof.

"What?" Raph answered.

"You think there'll be a damsel in distress this time?!"

Raph just rolled his eyes. "Don't count on it, Shell-For-Brains!"


	2. Turtles!

Emma was walking down the alley, when a group of men, with dragon tattoos, blocked the path in front of her. She backed up a bit, not sure what she should do. She then turned and walked as fast as she could the other way, to make it seem she wasn't all that flustered.

Another group of men, with the same tattoos, showed up in front of her. She was trapped. They surrounded her. She was backed up against a brick wall. One man stepped forward from the gang. He seemed to be the leader of them. He had a blond ponytail and was head and shoulders above all of them. Her eyes were wide with fear. She dropped her duffle bag on the ground as the guy drew closer to her.  
"What do you think you're doing on our turf?" He spoke in a deep and angry voice.

Emma tried to sound brave. "I'm lost. I..I didn't mean to disturb you. If you'll just move aside, I'll leave right away."

She turned to go but the guy put his arm in the way.

"You're on our territory. We don't allow strangers here. You'll pay for trespassing."  
He snapped his fingers at the guys behind him.

"Let's give her a warm welcome, boys."

All at once the men gathered around her. They were so close that she could smell their breath. They reeked of alcohol and smoke.

Emma punched one of them in the face. He cried out in pain and backed away. Another man crept forward. She kicked him in the shins. He stumbled but that didn't stop him from coming back.

There were at least twenty of them. They grabbed hold of her wrists and threw her against the wall. She couldn't move. The leader came real close to Emma's face. He pulled out a knife, at least 3 inches long, and brought it to her neck. Emma tried to scream but a man covered her mouth. She began crying and whimpering.

_This is it! I'm going to die here! Please, someone...anyone...help me._

She could feel the cold blade on her skin. The big guy laughed as he scraped her throat a little bit. The pain was almost unbearable. Emma gave a muffled cry. Blood oozed all down her neck. It was hot and sticky on her flesh.

Just when all hope of escape was gone, a person jumped down from the rooftop and flung the man with knife threw the air. All the gang members fumbled backwards, letting go of Emma, but were still on their feet. The person stared at them, furious with what they were doing. He spoke in a calm but angry voice.  
"When will you Dragon Freaks learn to pick on somebody your own size instead of defenseless girls. Now I'm gonna have to hurt you like you hurt her!"

The person stepped into the light. Emma saw that the human that saved her really wasn't a human at all. He was, in fact, a turtle! He had a blue bandana over his eyes and two swords in his hands.

Emma was dazed by what had just happened that it took her a few minutes to realize what he was. She snapped out of it as yet another turtle showed up behind the big group of men that had attacked her. He was wearing an orange mask, but instead of two swords, he had nunchakus.

He ran through the gang, hitting them in the face with his nunchakus.  
"Coming through! Have no fear, The Michelangelo is here! No autographs or photography, please." He yelled.

The turtle in blue joined the one in orange, who called himself Michelangelo, in the fighting spree. They shouted insults and funny remarks, trying to distract the enemies.

Emma watched on in total silence not sure if she should run or just stay put. _They're amazing in combat but they're turtles! Six foot talking turtles! This cannot be real. Maybe I'm asleep on the train. This has to be a dream, right? _

She hugged the wall as the turtle in blue came over to her. She was scared of him, but not as scared as she was with the gang. He bent down to look her straight in the eye.

_He has beautiful eyes. He doesn't look dangerous but I mustn't let down my guard. _

He smiled at her. "Don't worry, we'll get you out of here."

Emma felt a little safer hearing him say that. He whirled around and fought off more attackers.  
"Don, get her outta here! She'll be hurt bad if she stays." He shouted.

As he said that two more turtles rammed through the crowd. One was wearing a dark red mask holding two sais, the other a purple mask with a Bo staff.

The purple masked turtle ran over to Emma as the one in blue leapt into the battle once more.  
"Alright, I'm on it!" The turtle with the staff called back.

Donnie picked Emma up and jumped over some of the thugs. He ran so fast that Emma felt like she was flying. They were nearing the ladder to the roof when the big guy from before shoved Donnie backwards into the wall. He dropped Emma on the ground. Emma went to get up when the guy pulled her up by her hair. She squealed and fought back. The leader of the Purple Dragons hit her in the face. Emma hit the ground, face first. She got up on her hands and knees. Her vision kinda blurry from the guy's punch. She yelped in pain as she was yanked up once more. He started dragging her to a black SUV on the side of the street. Emma punched him in the nose and stomped on his foot. He yelled, still holding onto her. She elbowed him in the stomach. He loosened his grip and she took off running. It was only a second before she was caught again. This time he pulled back her wrist, almost breaking it completely. She tripped and fell on the concrete, scraping up her whole arm in the process. The guy put her over his shoulder and walked towards the SUV.

Emma wouldn't give up, she pounded on his back - screaming and kicking him. He wouldn't budge.

_He's rock solid! I can't get free. What'll I do?..._

Emma looked over to see a turtle in red approaching the guy from behind. He put his finger on his lips, telling her to be quiet. She nodded slowly. The turtle pushed into the guy's lower back making him fall on his face. Raph turned on his back and slid on his shell to quickly grab Emma. They were now 10 feet away from the huge gang leader who was just getting up off the ground.

Raph watched the guy get up and chuckled.  
"What's the problem, Hun? Am I too much for ya?!"

He set Emma down. She was so amazed she couldn't even speak.

_These turtle guys are incredible! Maybe they're some kind of science experiment or alien?_

Hun pulled out his long blade from before and crept toward Raph. Raph pushed Emma off to the side as he pulled his sais out. He flipped them in the air then caught them. He did it so effortlessly.  
"Come at me! I dare ya!" Raph yelled.

"Don't be so cocky, Shell Back. This night shall be your last!" Hun spat.

"I'm not cocky, I'm just telling you how good I am. You'll never beat me, Hun, and you know it!"

They both ran towards each other, blades in hand. Hun was pretty fast, but Raph was quicker. He dodged all of Hun's attacks. It looked so easy for him.

"Enough playing!" Hun growled.

Raph managed to get behind him and stab him in the back. Raph jumped back over in front of Emma.  
"Who said I was playin'?" He asked mockingly.

Hun ran off. Raph had his hands on his hips.  
"That's how it's done."

Donnie jogged over to them, panting. He was so tired. Every inch of his body hurt. He bent over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.  
"What the shell, Donnie! You were supposed to get her out of here. Instead I had to do your job for you!" Raph bellowed.

"Sorry, those thugs got in my way. Hun grabbed her and I couldn't find her." He said through deep breaths.  
Donnie stood up straight. There were still guys fighting all around them. Donnie punched two of them in the face and they crumpled to the ground. He turned to Raph and Emma again.  
"Get her up to the rooftops while I hold off these clowns, Leo's orders."

"Urg, why can't you take the girl?"

"Just do it will ya?!"

"Fine! Geez."  
Raph came over to get Emma, but one guy got to her first. He pulled out a wooden bat, went to hit her, but Raph grabbed it from him and broke it in half. Raph pushed him. The guy accidentally knocked Emma over, and she hit the corner of a dumpster. Raph tossed him aside and nelt over her.

Emma was bleeding from her head. Everything went dark and she lost consciousness.

"Ah, great." Raph grunted.  
He gently lifted her up, and climbed the ladder to the roof. He ran from one roof to the other, and kept going. His brothers would meet up with him a few blocks away just to be safe.

_This girl may look light as a feather but she's heavy. Why does Leo give me these kinda jobs? _

Raph stopped at the rendezvous point on a roof. He laid Emma down on the floor. She was completely still. He leaned against the wall, and waited for his brothers.

_Man, if she's dead, then I went through all of that for nothing. _


	3. And You Are?

It was only a few minutes before Leo, Donnie, and Mikey showed up. They were all beat up and worn out. Raph stomped over to Leo.  
"Why the shell did you have me get the girl to safety? I thought that was Donnie's job?"

Leo held his shoulder, trying to make it stop bleeding. He had blood all down his left arm. Blisters were on both of his hands from using his katana.  
"Raph, I'm not going into this right now. Besides, what's done is done."

Leo walked off before Raph could even respond. He put his hand on Donnie's shoulder.  
"Check her wounds. She's beat up pretty bad."

Donnie nodded. Leo turned to Mikey.  
"Did you get her bag and purse she had with her?"

Mikey tossed them over to Leo.  
"Sure did. Whatever's in that bag of hers is really heavy! I strained my neck from carrying it. Ugh."

"While Donnie fixes her up, I'll look for her identification." Leo said.  
He opened her purse, and saw a passport but no drivers license. He picked up her passport. He flipped it open to look for a name of who the girl was. He saw her picture on one page. She looks amazing, he thought. He still thought she looked beautiful even if her hair and makeup we're a disaster.  
"Ok, found it." He stated.

Mikey leaned over Leo's shoulder to look. Raph leaned in far enough to see too. Leo turned his head to Mikey and moved his shoulder out from under Mikey's chin.  
"Her name is Emma Dwyer. Age sixteen. From London, England." He then closed the passport, and returned it to Emma's purse.

"Dudes, she's our age! And... From a different country! I totally got dibs!" Mikey said excitedly.

Raph snuck up behind him, and pulled on Mikey's bandana ties. Mikey fell backwards. Raph folded his arms and laughed.  
"Keep dreaming, lover boy, but it'll never happen. If and when she wakes up she'll probably start screaming bloody murder."

Mikey fixed his bandana.  
"How do you know? She might thank us for saving her, maybe with a kiss!"

"You are so hopeless." Raph face palmed himself.

Donnie cleaned the scratch on Emma's neck. He checked her head, gently lifting her forward. She had bruises all down her arms. He laid her down again. She stirred, but didn't open her eyes. Leo came over and knelt on one knee.  
"How is she? Do you think she'll be ok?" He asked.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think she'll pull through. She's breathing normally so that's a plus. Her head was bleeding a bit, but I don't think it's serious, then again I'm not a doctor."

"She probably just moved here or is visiting someone. We can't take her home until she wakes up."

Raph, arms folded, eyes closed, sat on the short wall to the building's edge.  
"We could just leave her here. She's not in danger, so why not?"

Leo frowned and stood over by Raph.  
"We are not just leaving her up here. Those Purple Dragons never let people escape from their grasp. What if she's attacked again?"

"Leo, those idiots are nowhere in sight. She'll be fine." Raph got to his feet.

"Are you expecting me to leave behind someone who was attacked?! She'll freak out if she doesn't know where she is or how she got here."

"She'll freak out anyways if she sees us! Let's just go."

"No, Raph. We're not going. We're staying here until she wakes up. Besides, Don is still treating her wounds."

"No, he's not. Look, he's done. Now, I say we move out!" Raph yelled back in reply.

Emma stirred again. She could hear male voices shouting at one another.

_Am I still in the alley? Why does my head hurt so badly? Oh... Wait...that's right. I fell and hit my head._

Emma opened her eyes, but quickly shut them again because it hurt so much. She moved her head a little.

Donnie saw that she moved, and got to his feet; backing away, for fear of scaring her. He pointed to her.  
"Uh...Guys?"

Leo and Raph were still fighting about what they should do. Both of them yelling and glaring at one another.  
Leo held his ground not willing to give up the fight.

_What does he know about leadership he's just a hot head? I work day after day on my skills as a leader for what, him kicking my shell anytime I give him an order?! I'm done with this!_

Raph wouldn't back down either. He couldn't stand Leo being the leader. He didn't understand why Master Splinter would choose him above all of them.

_I could be a way better leader than Leo so why aren't I?! It's not fair! He says it's hard but I can handle it, so why?! I'm the better fighter not him, so I should be the leader._

Raph's green hands were balled in fists. He was so mad he felt sick.

_Every time I'm mad it's because of Leo._

Leo could see how angry Raph was by the look of him. _My guess is he's jealous. Why does he want to be leader so bad, it makes no sense.  
_  
"Shut up, Raph! I'm the leader here, not you." Leo shouted.

"Ha! Why Master Splinter chose you, I have no idea. It should have been me!"

"Is that what this is about?"

Mikey was standing by Donnie. The two looked at Emma, and back at their fighting brothers.  
"Guys...guys look!" They both whispered loudly.

"I'm the better fighter so I should be leader!" Raph kept yelling.

"No you're not. You are an ignorant hot head!"

"Why don't you put your katana where your mouth is!"

"With pleasure!" Leo said and was about to take out one of his swords on his back.

Emma sat up straight, her back to the ledge of the building.

_These are the things from before! How did I get here?! I need to get away!_

"GUYS!" Donnie shouted above them.

He pointed behind his back, as did Mikey. They signaled with their eyes to look behind them. Leo and Raph stopped. They all four turned around to face Emma. She had a scared look on her face. All four of the turtles looked on in silence; Mikey waved, Donnie smiled awkwardly, Raph frowned at Leo. Leo approached her slowly. Emma got to her feet and tripped over the ledge behind her, falling backwards. Leo acted fast, and grabbed her arm. He yanked her back up to the roof. She just stared at him for what seemed ages. She snapped out of it, and tried to shove him away. He was surprised and let go of her arm, jumping backwards. Mikey pushed Leo out of the way, running up to Emma. He got really close to her face which caused her to slide down to the floor. He was smiling.  
"Sup, Dudette?! Name's Michelangelo."

He was pulled back by Raphael.  
"Do you have an off switch? Sheesh! Stop freaking her out already." He said.

"P...please don't hurt me. I just want to go home!" Emma stammered.

Leonardo knelt down to her left. He put his hands up.  
"We're not going to harm you in any way, I promise. We want to make sure you're ok." He said reassuringly.

Emma could tell he meant what he said. She watched as the turtle in purple, Donnie, came over.  
"Can I take another look at the bump on your head. It'll only take a sec."

"Uh...I guess so." Emma said.

Donnie sat on the ledge behind her and checked her head.  
"Hmm, I think it's gonna be ok. It stopped bleeding so that's a good sign. Do you feel nauseous, Emma?"

"No. Hey, wait a minute! How did you know my name?!"

Mikey came and sat down next to her.  
"We looked inside your purse and found your passport. Ha-haha, you look much better in person than your photo! You know, I totally saved your life back in the alley. Yup, just another day for THE Mikey, hero of New York City, lover of pizza, and not to mention BEST looking out of all his brothers!"

"You went through my purse? Are you guys some sort of experiment gone wrong or something? Or are you just wearing really good costumes?" Emma questioned.

Mikey reached his arm out in front of her and flexed his muscles.  
"Hate to break it to ya but these aren't costumes and we aren't experiments. Go ahead feel!"

Raph stormed over and hit Mikey on the head. Mikey covered his head with his arms.  
"Come on, Raph! What was that for?"

Raph smirked, not saying a word. Donnie was done looking at Emma's cut on her head, he got up and stood over by Leo. Emma was so confused. She couldn't tell if this was a dream or an hallucination. She reached over and pinched herself. A sharp pain shot up her left arm.

_This is real! No, it can't be! Just stay calm, Emma. You're probably still knocked out in the alley or something. In a few minutes I'll wake up. _

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, then opened them again. The turtles were still in front of her. She reached her arm over to pinch herself again when Mikey stopped her.  
"What are you doing? Why do you keep pinching yourself? Dude, humans are so weird!" He said.

"You're turtles! I don't believe this!"

"Believe it, babe, we're real."

"Well, you seem to be handling the situation better than most." Donnie stated.

"Yeah, usually when people see us they go off screamin' monsters." Raph said.

"I wanted to at first." Emma replied.  
She stood up, a little dizzy but other than that she was fine. Leo held her right arm to steady her. He smiled, she smiled back.  
"I guess I should say thank you for rescuing me back in the alley." She said.

"We help people. It's what we do." Leo declared.

Raph looked over the ledge of the building. His eyes widened.

_Ah, crud. Not again! _

He whistled to Leo, signaling him to look as well. Donnie came over and took Leo's place, steadying Emma. Leo crouched down next to Raph. He peeked over the edge. Leo make a hand sign telling Donnie and Mickey to be quiet and get down. Mikey, Donnie, and Emma got down. They were completely silent.  
"What is it, Leo?" Donnie whispered.

"Purple Dragons. They're scouting the streets for us." Leo whispered back.

"Who are the Purple Dragons?" Emma asked, quietly.

Mikey leaned over to her and replied. "Boneheads with dragon tatts that work for Shredhead."

"Wait, what?"

Leo answered her question. "What Mikey means is, those guys that ambushed you in the alley are the Purple Dragons. You can tell by the dragon tattoos on their bodies. Their leader was the big guy that attacked you with the knife. His name is Hun. He works for a man by the name of Shredder."

"Who's Shredder?" Emma questioned.

"Only the WORST man on the planet! He is our arch nemesis!" Mikey said.

"Hey, Leo, we need to get out of here. Those punks are on the roof right across the street." Raph said as he ducked even lower to the ground.

"Alright, guys. Here's the plan. Raph and I will lead in front while Donnie will..." Leo started but Mikey cut in.

"Oh, oh! Can I carry Emma?!" Mikey asked whilst raising his hand.

Leo sighed. "Fine, Mikey, you can carry Emma. Sorry, Emma, but you'll have to come with us for the time being."

"Hold it, she's coming with us?" Raph asked angrily.

"Well, we can just leave her here where those Purple Dragons will find her. You know what those guys are like, Raph. Emma could get hurt again or worse if we just leave her here. Attempting to take her home would be suicide with those gangs down there. We'll be caught." Leo said.

"Leo, we're not taking her to the Lair. What if she's a spy or she tells someone about us? I am not becoming a test subject for experimentation."

"Raph, calm down she's not a spy. I don't think she'll tell anyone either. She looks trustworthy."

"I swear I won't tell anybody. Honest." Emma declared.

"Yeah, well I still don't trust her! Besides, humans aren't allowed in the Lair anyways." Raph said.

Leo folded his arms. "Why are you so against my orders? You're complaining about my every decision. You don't seem to mind April and Casey in the Lair. We ARE taking her with us, at least for tonight, that is."

Mikey knelt next to Raph. "Ooooo, you've just been spanked, bro!"

Raph made a low growling sound and slapped Mikey in the face. Mikey squealed and fell backwards onto his back.  
"Dude, someone woke up on the wrong side of his shell this morning." Mikey said as he sat up.

"Let's just go." Leo ordered.

Raph rolled his eyes. Donnie picked up Emma's duffle bag, and flung it over his shoulder. Mikey ran over to Emma, scooping her up in his arms. He made a weird laugh.  
"Aw, we're like a married couple!" He said jokingly

"We're so not!" Emma replied, laughing.

"Hey, Mikey. Try not to drop her, numbskull." Raph said as he jumped to the next roof.

"I'm not gonna drop her, Raph. I'll wow her with my cool moves!"  
Mikey ran to the ledge of the building, jumped, and did a flip to the other side, landing on his feet. Emma was clinging to him, scared to death. "Watcha think of that, huh?! Awesome, I know right? They don't call me Doctor Flippinstein for nothing."

"Yeah, but warn me next time before you do that. It nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Heheh, sorry. Couldn't help it."

They hopped from roof to roof, stopping every so often to watch for Purple Dragons. They jumped down a fire escape and into an abandoned alley way. All four of them stopped by a manhole toward the end of the alley.  
"Don't tell me you guys live in the sewer?!" Emma asked.

"It's not that bad once you get used to it. We've lived there our whole lives!" Mikey said.

Donnie opened the manhole cover. Raph jumped through, then Leo and Donnie. Mikey and Emma were last. Mikey, still holding Emma, leapt through. Leo placed the manhole cover back to its original position. Mikey sniffed the air.  
"Oh, oh, ok. Forget what I said before. It stinks!" He yelled and held his nose.

Emma giggled.

"Gross, what are people eating nowadays?"

Emma couldn't hold it back any longer, she burst out laughing. Mikey started laughing too.

"Yes, I finally got you to laugh! You've got an adorable laugh! A cute laugh for a cute girl!"

"I suppose." Emma replied, giggling.

"Guys, let's keep moving. We aren't safe until we are in the Lair." Leo warned.  
They continued moving through the sewers.


	4. Welcome To The Lair

It took only a few minutes before they, apparently reached their destination, because all four turtles stopped when they came to a brick wall. Emma was so confused.

_Dead end? Did they take a wrong turn or something? _

Donnie walked up to the brick wall. He pushed on a brick and a finger scanner popped out of the wall. He placed his finger on the scanner and typed in a password. The wall actually opened up revealed their secret Lair. Mikey set Emma down, then ran inside, and plopped on a couch in front a T.V.  
"Ah, it's good to be home. I'm so tired. Even my bruises have bruises!" Mikey said.

"I know what ya mean, Mikey. Ugh, my back's killing me." Donatello said as he stretched.

Emma stood in the front entrance of the Lair, not knowing what she should do. Leo came over to her and grinned. He gently guided her in before the wall shut.  
"We didn't get to introduce ourselves properly before. My name is Leonardo. These three are my brothers, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello." He said.

"Hi, thanks again for rescuing me. It's just so strange that four giant, walking, talking turtles are living in the sewers under New York City!"

"Well, hey, it's better than having four leprechauns living in the sewers of NYC. Those little dudes, dressed in green, sneak up on ya. I saw one in Raph's room once! It was horrifying!" Mikey exclaimed.

Emma stared blankly at him, a little baffled by what he said. "Uhhh...?"

Leo leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Ignore him. He still believes in leprechauns... And the tooth fairy... And Santa Claus. Pretty much any mythical or monster like thing, really."

Emma laughed quietly, hiding her face from Mikey. Raph whacked Mikey on the back of his head.  
"You idiot, there never was a leprechaun in my room. I told you that was just a poster hanging on my wall." He said.

Mikey scratched the back of his head. "Why do you have a poster of a leprechaun hanging on your wall? Gasp... Are you in league with them?! I knew it!"

Raph shook his head. "It wasn't a leprechaun! It was a wrestler with a green mask! Geez." He yelled.

"Soooo... It was a leprechaun disguised as a wrestler?!"

Raph shouted at the top of his lungs. "That's it! Come here you!"

Mikey screamed and took off running. Raph was gaining on him.  
Emma couldn't help but burst out laughing. It was such an odd conversation. Raphael was chasing Mikey all over the Lair. They jumped from one place to the other, shouting and slapping one another. Leo rolled his eyes.  
"Shh, guys. You'll wake Master Splinter and then we'll all be in trouble!"

Then they heard a voice from behind them. They froze dead in their tracks, each wide eyed and nervous looking.  
"Why would you be in trouble, my sons?"

Emma looked over to see a huge rat standing in front of, what looked like, a dojo area. She backed up a bit, still taking it all in.

_Why'd he call them his sons? Is he their father or something? _

She looked over at the turtles. All four of them gulped and started sweating. Donnie answered the rat's question before his brothers.  
"We...Well, ya see, Master Splinter, we... Uh. You tell him Leo." Donnie pushed Leo toward Master Splinter.

Leo smiled awkwardly. "Well, Sensei, we...heh..."

But before he could answer Mikey jumped in.  
"What Leo means is we aren't in any trouble. It's not like we went to the surface without your permission or anything."

Raph, Donnie, and Leo turned to Mikey, giving him the evil eye. "Mikey!"

They all shouted at once.

Master Splinter frowned. "Boys!" He yelled at them.

The turtles cowered a bit. Then Leo approached his Sensei.  
"Sensei, I know we disobeyed your rules but we did manage to save a girl's life."

He said as he pointed over to Emma.

Mikey laughed. "A totally bodacious one at that!" He smirked.

The rat drew closer to the girl. He whirled around to look at Leo once more.  
"So, I see you decided to bring her here."

"Yes. Her name is Emma Dwyer. She was attacked in an alley way by some Purple Dragons. Sensei, we couldn't just leave her there. You taught us to fight for others with honor."

"Hmm, I guess it couldn't be helped. The Purple Dragons are ruthless warriors. They would not allow her to escape a second time if you left her up there by herself.."

"My thoughts exactly, Master Splinter. Plus she was injured."

Raph rubbed his bald green head. "So, does that mean we're off the hook?"

"Yes." Master Splinter replied.

"Yeah!" The turtles shouted.

"And no. You still disobeyed my instruction therefore you must be disciplined. Extra training in the morning, 8:00 A.M. sharp!" He ordered.

"Aww!" They all four sighed at once.

Master Splinter calmly walked over to Emma.  
"Welcome, miss Dwyer. I am Master Splinter."

"Um...hi." She said in response.

"I know it must be a shock to you, finding all of us hiding underground like this."

"It was at first, I must admit. How exactly did you guys end up like this? We're you real people before? Was it some kind of experiment that mutated all of you?"

"No. We weren't experiments. Please sit down while I tell you the story of our mutation."  
Emma sat down on a nearby couch with Master Splinter sitting on a recliner. The turtles gathered round to listen.  
"I was not always like this. I was a human being. I had a family. But something tragic happened."

Master Splinter told her of how he became a mutant by some kind of ooze that fell in the sewers. He explained how the turtles transformed, and he adopted them as his sons. He gave them each names, and trained them in the way of the ninja. In turn they called him Master Splinter. They respected him as their father.

Emma listened intentively. She meditated on every word he said. She couldn't believe the story he told of how they came to be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Mikey added some of his experiences in battle now and then, making Emma laugh. They all stayed up really late just talking to one another; getting to know each other better.

Emma knew she could finally have some good friends that would look out for her, even though it took her getting attacked to meet them. After about 3:00 A.M. they all hit the hay. Emma was shown to Mickey's room where she would sleep for the night. It was a complete disaster! You couldn't even see the floor it was so bad!

Donnie sighed.  
"Yeah, sorry about the mess. Mikey is the only one who has a bunk-bed so we thought it would be a good idea to give you his room. He never sleeps on the top bunk anyways so you should be fine. If you need anything just shout. We are right next door." Donnie said.

"Okay, thank you." Emma replied and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Donnie blushed bright red. "Uh...yeah, n..no problem. Well, good night!" He stammered.

He then turned on his heels and walked out, closing the door behind him.  
Emma got some pjs out of her duffle bag and got dressed. She climbed up on the top bunk and soon fell fast asleep.


	5. Goodbye So Soon?

The next morning...

Emma was still asleep. She could faintly hear male voices whispering to one another.  
"Dude, she's adorable! Talk about a Sleeping Beauty!" One of them whispered rather loudly.

"And who are you supposed to be? Malificent's crow?"

"Raph, Mikey, would you two shut up already?! Emma is asleep. We really shouldn't be in here in the first place."

Emma opened her eyes very slowly to see three turtles in front of her. She flinched backwards on her pillow, but then remembered who they were. She sat up and rubbed the back of her head. It stung a bit but not as much as before. Mikey and Raph were standing in front of Donnie by the bunk bed Emma was on.

"Correction, Don, she WAS asleep." Mikey said.

"Yeah, all thanks to you, Shell-brained Knucklehead!" Raph growled as he hit Mikey on the arm.

Mikey turned to Emma and gave her a hug. "Morning, beautiful! Dudette, let me just say that you are gorgeous when awake AND asleep!"

"Sheesh, Mikey. Do you have to make a fool of yourself EVERY TIME there's a pretty girl involved?" Raph said.

Mikey and Raph started bickering amongst themselves while Emma giggled and climbed down the ladder of the bed. Donnie folded his arms.  
"You'd think they'd be sick of fighting with each other by now."

He turned to Emma with a concerned look on his face.  
"Is your head ok?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah, it's fine, it stings a little. That's all."

He smiled. "Let me know if it gets worse."

Leo walked in. He broke up the fight between Raph and Mikey then leaned on the doorframe of the room.  
"Hey, Emma, sorry about them waking you up. How're ya feelin'?" He asked.

"No, it's ok. Um...pretty good actually."

"We're going to try to take you home today. As long as you're ok with it, that is."

"Yeah, that'd be great. Oh, what time is it, do you know?"

Mikey shouted. "It's 8:00 'o'clock my darling!"

"Oh, thanks for the wake up call, guys." Emma rolled her eyes as she said that.

Donnie rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh, sorry."

Mikey put his arm around Emma. "I'd be your wake up call anytime!"

Raph laughed. "Ha, Like she would want to see your ugly mug every morning! She'd probably wake up screaming."

Mikey frowned and took his arm off of Emma. Leo just shook his head with embarrassment.  
"Alright guys, enough messing around. We've got ninja training with Master Splinter. He's waiting for us in the dojo. And I'm pretty sure Emma would like to have some privacy for a while. Let's go."

"Yeah. Fine. Whatever. " Leo's brothers replied. They all walked out of the room and closed the door.

Emma was left alone. She grabbed her bag, and got out a purple t-shirt, a jean skirt, white leggings, and silver and blue sneakers. She got dressed, did her hair and makeup, and walked out into the hallway. She could hear grunts and metal clashing sounds coming from the training room.

Emma looked about in the hall. There were three other rooms besides Mikey's. Two were across the hall, and one to the right.

_Hmm, I guess they won't mind if I just take a look around. _

Emma approached the door to the right. She opened it slowly and peeked inside. The room was pretty big for one person. It was dimly lit by flashing red lights from some sort of machines. There were books piled all over the floor. A desk with blueprints was in the corner of the room. Crumbled up paper over flowed the trash can next to the desk. There were posters of different inventions hanging on the walls.

_This must be Donatello's room. He is the brains of the team, after all, so it just makes sense this would be his room. _

She closed the door and crossed the hall to another room. This room's door was covered in 'Keep Out' signs.

_Gee, I wonder who's room this is. This has Raphael's name written all over it._

Emma cautiously turned the knob, and opened the door. The room was pretty dark. She turned on the light. The bed was a mess, there were pizza crusts and orange crush cans lying on the floor, plus some posters of wrestlers hung up on the walls. The bed really wasn't a bed once Emma took a real good look at it; it was really a hammock hanging from the ceiling. There were weights on one side of the room. Emma had to watch where she stepped because of all the orange crush cans on the floor.

_Wow, he must really like orange crush! Well, at least we have something in common._

She walked out of the room, and shut the door behind her.

_Okay, last room. This has to be Leonardo's then._

Emma swung the door open. What she saw kinda surprised her a bit. Leo's room was spotless, unlike the other three rooms she saw! Everything was neatly put away, nothing was out of place. The bed was made, the bookshelf tidy, the table in the corner clean, it looked like nobody had ever been in there.

_Woah, I was totally not expecting his room to be like this; even if he is the leader. _

Emma closed the door and went out into the lounge area. So far she had found the bedrooms, kitchen, lounge, dojo, and garage. She looked over to one door that was slightly open.

_Wonder what that room is?_

She came over to the door, pushed it open all the way, and walked in. It was lit but not a whole lot. There was a table on the center wall with a monitor and keyboard on it, along with files stamped TCRI on it.

She looked at the monitor screen. It had some kind of secret code on it. She sat in the chair next to the desk, and opened the files by the monitor. There were pictures of alien robots with pink brains in their middles, as well as pictures of their laser guns. She saw that one photo had three pentagons side by side in it.

_Where have I seen this symbol before? It's so familiar but I can't seem to put my finger on it. _

Emma placed everything back in the folder. She got up and realized that there was a canister of some sort on a table across from her. She was very curious and decided to check it out. She went over to the small examine table, staring at the tube. It was as big around as her forearm, but it was broken down the center of it. Small drops of green ooze were on the sharp edges. She was just about to pick it up when someone shouted from behind her, frightening her to where she quickly backed away from it.  
"No! Don't touch that!" Leo called to Emma as he jumped in front of her.

"Trust me, you do NOT want to touch it. That is the canister of ooze that mutated me, my brothers, and Master Splinter. Even the slightest drop could mutate anything." He warned her.

"I...I'm sorry. I was just curious of what it was."

Leo sighed. "I didn't mean to scare you like that. I didn't want to risk you getting hurt or anything. Sorry."

"That stuff must be pretty powerful if even the slightest drop could mutate any living organism, huh?"

"Yeah, it's dangerous. Donnie's been trying to figure out if he can reverse its affects for, ya know, Master Splinter."

"He used to be human, right?"

"Yes, I want nothing more than for him to be his former self once again."

"Aren't you afraid he'll leave you guys down here if you happen to find the cure?"

"He is our father. He would never do something like that. I believe that he would find a way for us to live with him above ground."

"You must have a good relationship with him."

"I do actually. Out of all my brothers, I believe I have a closer bond with Sensei. Um...anyway I came to find you so that I could take you home."

"Oh, okay, cool. Are Mikey, Raph, and Donnie coming?"

"No, they're still training. I'm finished for today so I thought I would take you by myself."

Emma smiled. "Alright, I'll go get my bag."

Emma and Leo went to Mikey's room for Emma's bag. Leo insisted that he carry the bag for her. He swung it over his shoulder and together they walked out of the Lair. There was an awkward silence as they walked. Leo stared ahead and at the ceiling, trying to figure out what they could talk about. He scratched the side of his face before finally striking up a conversation.  
"So, Emma, why did you come to New York? Are you visiting a relative or friend?"

"I actually came here to live with my uncle, Drew. I was trying to find out where he lived when those Purple Dragons ambushed me."

"What about your parents? Are they back in England?"

Emma went quiet. She stopped, her head hung low. Leo seemed to sense what was wrong, he had asked a very personal question. He turned to look at Emma.  
"Forgive me, I didn't mean to make you upset."

Emma shook her head and looked up at him. "No, it's alright. It's just a very difficult subject for me to talk about."

"I understand."

It was very silent for the next couple minutes. Emma and Leo continued through the narrow path of the sewer. There was garbage everywhere. It had rained last night so the water had risen quite a bit. Everything was wet and slippery. Emma nearly slipped three times. Leo walked calmly along, he didn't slip at all.

_This is his home. He must be used to all of this._

She almost bumped into Leo's shell when he stopped abruptly under a manhole cover.  
"Here is where we saved you last night in the alley. Where does your uncle live?"

"Oh, I have his address on my phone." Emma pulled out her phone from her bag. It was a black iPhone 4s with a yellow rubber case on it. She opened up the contacts page, found the address, and handed it to Leo. Leonardo took a quick look at it, handed it back to Emma.

"His apartment should be up here. Come on, I'll help ya find it."

With that he climbed the ladder, and opened up the manhole cover. He grunted as he set it aside and climbed on out. He helped Emma, who was right behind him, and place the cover back over the manhole.  
"The apartment entrance is across the street. You had the right number but wrong building. Unfortunately, I can't escort you over there because, well, you know." He shrugged.

"Thank you for pointing me to the right building. Will I ever see you and your brothers again?"

"Of course! Mikey would throw a fit if he didn't get to say goodbye to you. Tell you what, I'll come back tonight, with my brothers, and we'll properly say our goodbyes then."

Emma smiled. "That would be great! I'll meet you guys tonight on the rooftop of my uncle's apartment, say 9:00?"

"Its a date. See ya then." With that he leapt up to the rooftops and disappeared.


	6. Kidnapped!

Emma was very anxious as she got into the apartment building. The owner, Mr. Forthsmith, greeted her. He was very kind, but there was something about him Emma didn't like. He wore a plain red t-shirt, tan pants, and black sneakers. Emma said who she was and told him that she was looking for her uncle Drew.  
"Ah, yes, he said he had a visitor coming. He told me to go ahead and let you into his apartment. I have a spare key for you." He gave Emma a rusted key.

Mr. Forthsmith grinned. "Follow me. I'll show you to his apartment. I just want to let you know, Emma, that your uncle hasn't been seen for a few weeks. I'm not positively sure if he's even here." He said.

Emma was concerned and puzzled.

"I talked to him just yesterday. But why did he leave? It doesn't make sense, he knew I was coming. Did you see him leave?"

The man shook his head. "Nope. He has made trips in the past, said it was for work, but he's never been gone for more than a week at most. Me and your uncle, Drew, we're good friends, but he's very secretive. His place is right down this hallway."

They passed several doors. Each had something decorative on it, but once they reached Emma's uncle's it looked so bare and out of place.

Emma set down her bags next to the door. Mr. Forthsmith stopped and turned to shake Emma's hand. Emma shook his hand. He smiled  
"This is it. It was a pleasure to meet you, Emma." With that he walked away.

Emma unlocked the door and went inside, trailing her luggage behind her. It was really dark in the room when she entered. She immediately searched the wall to her left for a switch. She hit the jackpot, finding three switches right next to each other. She flipped them all on. The room grew very bright.

Emma was surprised to see that the apartment was a terrible mess, of course it was her uncle's so she kinda expected it, but still. The rooms looked like they had been ransacked. Everything was knocked over. Papers and folders littered the floor. Emma took a look around, but every room she came to was even worse than the last.

The worst looking room out of all of them was the bedroom.

_Someone besides my uncle was definitely here. It doesn't really look like anything was taken, anything of value at least._

She went over to the dresser in her uncle's bedroom. It was a disastrous sight. The drawers were pulled out, clothes all over the bed and carpet, books piled on top. Something on the side of the dresser caught Emma's attention. There were three medium-sized chips out of the side, like someone was shooting at it. Splinters of wood were scattered by the legs of the dresser, along with little splatters of blood.

Emma gulped and crouched down to get a better look. As she did she noticed that there was a crumpled up piece of scrap paper by her feet. She picked it up and read it. There were only three words but they sent a chill down her spine. She stared at it for a few minutes before dropping it to the floor. The words went through her mind again and again.

_GET OUT EMMA!  
_  
Emma stood up straight. She stepped, calmly as she could, out of the room and into the lounge.  
_Something awful must have happened to uncle Drew! What do I do?! I guess I should go to the police or maybe wait till the turtles arrive? What happened to my uncle?!_

Emma ran her fingers through her hair. She was panicking. She tried to calm down and breath but it wasn't working.  
_I've got to get out of here! _

Emma went and grabbed her bag, about to leave when there was a knock at the door. She blankly stood there not knowing if she should answer it or not. She made up her mind and opened the door slightly. There were three men, completely identical, wearing black suits, holding laser guns at the ready. They made no facial expression whatsoever. Their guns were silver with a pinkish strip along both sides of the barrel.

They pointed their guns at Emma, who was now trembling. She looked into their eyes, black and lifeless. Their hair was black and looked almost plastic, kind of like that of a Barbie doll, Emma thought.

When she finally started thinking properly, she slammed the door in their faces. She locked it and backed away. The door didn't hold or slow them down any. The three men barged in with ease. Emma threw anything she got her hands on at them but nothing held them off. She tried kicking one of them; he dodged. There was nothing she could do, nothing. One of them approached her and began speaking in a voice, robotic like.  
"The Kraang found the one who is known as, Emma, whom Kraang was sent to find." He violently grabbed Emma's arm.

Emma struggled and lashed out, trying to loosen his grip on her, to no avail.

"Let me go you freak!" She squealed.

She managed to tackle him to the ground and run over to the window fire escape in the bedroom. She got the window open, about to get out, when one of the men shot a pink light at her. It hit her left side, making her slump to the floor. She cried out in pain. Blood started to soak her shirt. She held her hand tightly over the wound. She looked up to see that two of the freaky robot men put some duct tape over her mouth and tie her up.

One of them lifted her over his shoulder, and they then leapt of the window to a black van. They threw her in the back with two guys sitting on either side of her and one up front driving. The van moved out of the alley and vanished around the corner.  
_Ambushed in an alley, and kidnapped within 24 hours?! Why am I so popular with jerks and freaks in this city?! Does this always happen to newcomers? That foster home back in England sounds pretty good right about now._

Emma listened to the rumble of the van as it drove down the street. None of the robotic men talked. They just sat there, guns in hand.  
-

"Dudes, we're gonna be late! Get a move on already! You know how I hate waiting." Mikey was standing next to the Lair's entrance, stomping his foot. He frowned as Donnie, Leo, and Raph walked over to him.

"I don't want to keep a babe waiting! It's almost 9:00, time to meet Emma."  
Mikey's brothers all rolled their eyes as they left the Lair. Leo put a hand on Mikey's shoulder.  
"Mikey, calm down already. We've got plenty of time to get over to Emma's place." Leo said.

"Hey, guys, am I just mistaken or does Mikey have a crush?!" Donnie teased.

"Ooooo." Raph piped in.

Mikey grinned. "Woah, dudes, we ALL know that I'm the popular one with chicks. I totally have dibs on Emma!"

"Ha, Mikey, you have a crush on every chick on the street, and besides, she's not your type. Emma likes guys with attitude, ya know what I'm saying?!" Raph said as he rushed past Mikey.

"How do you know what kind of guys she likes? She probably goes for the ones that actually use their heads." Donnie chuckled.

"Would you three just shut up! She is a human. Humans date humans, not mutant turtles." Leo stated as he shook his head with embarrassment.

Donnie, Mikey, and Raph stared at one another, each with a goofy grin on their face.  
"Leo, admit it! You like Emma, don't you?" Raph said as he elbowed Leo in the arm.

"Dude, he's blushing!" Mikey shouted out.

"Wha- ... No, I like her but not in that way!" Leo waved his hands out in front of him.

"Mm-hm." Leo's brothers all said at once.

Leo stopped walking and folded his arms. "Oh, come on, guys. Seriously, can we just stop talking about this?"

Raph grinned. "Emma's real cute but she's no Karai. Right, Leo?"

"That's enough. I said I was over that already." Leo said.

"You say that but your face shows a different story."

"Raph, can you just shut it!"  
Leo's voice echoed throughout the sewer. Everyone went silent. Leo's brothers smiled, but didn't speak another word. Leo turned around and started running through the tunnel, his brothers trailing behind.

They finally managed to get to the roof of Emma's apartment. It was real quiet. The four turtles waited and waited. It was 9:30pm, half hour after Emma was supposed to show up.

Donnie was pacing back and forth. Raph, his arms folded and eyes closed, was leaning against a wall. Leo was leaning over the edge of the building, looking at the cars driving past. Mikey was messing around with his nunchucks and accidentally hit himself in the head. He yelled ouch and rubbed the spot where he hit himself. Raphael just rolled his eyes. Raph saw that Donnie was still pacing.  
"Would you stop pacin' , Donnie, it's givin' me a headache."

"Something isn't right. Emma should've been here by now." Donnie answered.

"Maybe she forgot?" Mikey suggested.

"I don't think so." Leo chimed in. "Donnie might be right. What if the Purple Dragons found out where she lived somehow? I've got a bad feeling."

"Calm down bro. You know how girls are. They're always fashionably late." Raph said, but it still didn't ease Leo's nerves. He knew something was off.  
"We'll wait five more minutes. If she's not here by then, we'll go look for her." Leo ordered. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Five minutes later and still Emma hadn't shown up. Donnie stood up straight. He watched as Leo, sitting, stood up too. He looked worried.  
"Alright, let's go. We'll see if she's in her apartment. She said it was number 117." Leo said.

Donnie tightened his bandana. "Right."

"Be careful. Don't let anyone see you." Leo said.  
He pointed out which apartment was 117, and they climbed down on the fire escape to the window.

The lights were on in the rooms and the window had been opened. They crept through it carefully. What they saw startled them. There was a small puddle of blood soaked into the carpet by the window sill.

They inspected the dresser and found traces of blood there too along with signs of guns being fired. They went through each room, slowly and cautiously. Everywhere in the small apartment was a disaster. Nothing was in the right place.

Mikey and Donnie went in to the living room to investigate, while Leo was in the bedroom, and Raph in the kitchen.  
"Yikes, Emma sure knows how to throw a party." Mikey joked.

"Well, I'm glad I wasn't invited." Donnie replied.

"Guys, take a look at this." Leo said as he bent down by the window they had just come through. Raph, Mikey, and Donnie came back to where Leo was. Leo pointed with his green finger at the floor.  
"There's a trail of blood. It's fresh too, unlike the specks of blood we found by the dresser. Donnie can you analyze it?"

"Sure thing." Donnie answered as he pulled out a small device from his shoulder bag.

" Don, what else have you got in your goodie bag?!" Mikey said, teasingly, to Donnie. Mikey tried to grab Donnie's bag but Donnie slapped his hand. Mikey stumbled back.  
"Ouch!" Mikey exclaimed. He shook his hand about.

"Don't touch. This is off limits." Donnie smiled slightly.

Leo scanned the room for more evidence of who destroyed Emma's new home. Something shiny caught his attention on the ground by the dresser. He got on his hands and knees, and grabbed the item. It was a little piece of metal with black writing on it. The metallic piece was as big around as the palm of his hand. The letters were partially scraped off. It read: Property of TC, on it but the rest he couldn't make out.

_Could this be what I think it is? _

The piece had small fragments of glass on its edges. Leo checked under the dresser for more metal, but there wasn't any. He saw folders, random letters, and shattered glass. He gave up on the idea of finding more metal parts.

Leo was about to get up when he noticed one of the folders had a picture in it. He got it out from under the dresser and looked at it. The picture was torn up a bit. The photo was dark and fuzzy. There were three scientists in the photograph. Two men, one woman. In the background were pinkish looking lights and machinery. He recognized instantly where the scientists were - in an old laboratory within the TCRI building that they had recently destroyed.

_The TCRI Building! So I was right about this piece of metal. It's from a canister of mutagen! But who are these people in the photo? Kraang must be behind Emma's disappearance._

Donnie was analyzing a blood sample from the puddle in the carpet. There wasn't a lot of blood, but still, it wasn't something from a small cut. A lump formed in his throat once he found out who the blood belonged to.  
"Uh ... Leo?" He began.

"Yeah, what is it, Don. Did you analyze it?" Leo asked.

"Yes ... The blood belongs to Emma." Donnie sighed, sadly, as he got to his feet.

Raph pointed over by the door.  
"Her bags are beside the door so she got in safely. Someone must've been waiting for her."

Mikey looked, past Raph, over at the door. The knob was broken and the door was barely hanging on it's hinges. He noticed there were pink and black marks on the side of it. He ran over and got a closer look. He then turned back to Leo, Raph, and Donnie.  
"Hey, Leo? I think our friends, the Kraang, had a little visit with Emma."

Mikey's brothers strolled over to stand next to Mikey.  
"Great, first the Purple Dragons, now Kraang! All we need is Shredder and Emma will know all our enemies." Raph said sarcastically.

"So my hunch was right." Leo whispered to himself.

"Are we gonna go kick their butts or what?" Raph said, impatiently.

"Hang on. We don't even know where they took her. They have several underground bases as well as six above ground and one underwater. She could be at any one of them." Leo pointed out.

"True, but I have something that just might help us out with that." Donnie said.

"And that is?" Leo asked.

"It's a cloaking device that will allow us to follow where the Kraang have been in the past few hours. I call it, the K-Tracker." Donnie replied, as he rummaged through his shoulder bag. He pulled out a black and neon yellow item, similar to a game boy in looks. He pushed a bright red button, turning it on. The screen went from black to white.  
"This baby will help us find out where they took Emma, in no time."

"Don, how come you named it? You know, I always get to name the new gadgets!" Mikey complained.

"Mikey, I already gave a cool name. Plus, I'm the one who made it so it's only fair that I get to name it." Donnie declared.

"Oh, fine, but I'm naming the next one!"

"Okay, here we go. I'll put the address in and ... ". Donnie entered the street name and a loud beep sounded. The K-Tracker gave off a low click, once Donnie moved back towards the window.  
"Presto! It works! The K-Tracker says they went this way." He pointed down a side street on the left.

"Great, let's go. Don, lead the way." Leo said.

They left the apartment and followed Donnie up the fire escape to the roof. They ran on, quietly and fast - not even stopping to catch a breath.


	7. A Sudden Change

Emma lied there, unable to move any of her limbs. She was cold and worn out, but couldn't understand why. She slowly tried opening her eyes; a bright light made her close them again.

There were voices all around her. She couldn't make out what they were saying, it was like a different language, either that or her hearing wasn't right. She reopened her eyes once more, this time they adjusted a little to the light. She could see but everything was still blurry. She blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting even more to where she could see clearly again.

Emma was startled, there were robotic faces looming over her. They were making weird noises to one another, as if in deep conversation. She moaned. The robots looked down at her, straight in the eyes. Then one of them spoke to the other.  
"The one who was known as Emma, now resembles the ones who are known as the turtles. Kraang will be pleased to hear what Kraang has done to the one who is known as the Professor's niece."

Emma was confused. "What?" She croaked.

Her throat was sore; she needed something to drink. Emma tried moving her arms so she could get up, but something held them down. She managed to lift her head up to see what it was. She stared, wide eyed and gasped. Her whole body was green! She only had three fingers on each hand and, two toes on each foot. A hard tan colored, surface was on her chest and waist.

She layed back down again, still shocked at what she looked like. She lifted her head again, she was still green.

_This can't be happening! Where am I?! This isn't me! Where's my real body?!_

"Who or what are you freaks?! Let me go!" Emma screamed out.

A robot looked at her, blankly, then went out through an automatic door to its right.

Emma looked around the small room she was in. There was only the light above her that lit the room, it was dark in some corners. There was scientific equipment everywhere from stethoscopes to beakers.

Emma was in the center of the room on an examine table. There were metal straps on her wrists, legs, and waist. There were two robots standing guard by the door, other than that she was alone.

Emma tried wiggling her hands, but couldn't get free from her bonds. Just then, a loud alarm sounded. It was so loud that she thought her eardrums would burst.

Another robot came through the automatic door. He spoke urgently with the two guards and left. The guards ran over to Emma, one on either side of her. They stared at one another.  
"Kraang says for Kraang to move the one who is known as, Emma, to cell B7C." The one to her right said.

The other one made an alien-like sound, as if in reply. They unlocked the bonds on Emma. She sat up, a little dizzy but otherwise okay. They pushed her to her feet and placed some sort of weird handcuffs on her wrists. They pushed Emma over to the door and stormed her out into the hall. They made several turns. Emma had lost track of how many.

_This is like a maze! They know exactly where their going just like the turtles do in the sewers. I've got to figure out an escape plan and fast!_

The robots led her down a dimly lit hallway. Her wrists were hurting from the cuffs. They came to a halt at a door with only a small window at the top to see through. There was a passcode device next to the door. One of the guards entered a few codes and the door opened up into the ceiling, revealing a room smaller than the one she had woken up in. There were two benches on either wall but that was it.

They started to push Emma in. She whirled around and kicked one of them in the stomach. The guard flew backwards, stunned. She was surprised at how much strength her new body had. She came at the other guard, but he was ready, he quickly lifted his gun at her. She stopped dead in her tracks, remembering what it had done to her last time. The robot yanked her arm and shoved her into the cell. She fell forwards onto her hands and knees. She looked back in time to see the cell door close behind her. She got up and pounded on the door; rammed into it a few times, to no avail.

_No good. I can't open it. Great, what now? Come on, think, Emma, think!_

She tried shouting at the top of her lungs, screaming even. There wasn't anyone in hall to hear her. She slumped down on the floor, her knees propping her head up. She stared at the floor, cold and hard beneath her. She shivered, realizing that she might be trapped here for the rest of her life.

_Why can't I catch a break?! First my father died, then my uncle disappeared, and now all this ... Course, I did get to meet Donnie, Raph, Leo, and Mikey. I wish they were here._

A tear trickled down the side of Emma's face. The alarm was still sounding in the hall, not as loud in the cell as it was out there. There were pink lights flashing on and off.

Emma closed her eyes. There was a noise outside the door, like people were running. The noise got closer and closer then stopped by Emma's door. Emma shuffled a few inches away from it. She didn't know who or what was there.  
"Emma? You in there?" A familiar voice called out.

She smiled and wiped her tear filled eyes. She answered back. "Donnie!"

"Emma, you're gonna be okay. I'll get the door open, just hang on." His reply was muffled behind the door, but Emma could still make out what he said.

She quickly got to her feet, and looked through the tiny glass window on the thick door. She could see Donnie working on the lock. Raph was taking out the weird robots, two or three at a time. Leo protected Donnie as he was attempting to unlock the cell. Mikey was jumping around, dodging every laser that came at him. There was a loud thunk and the door rose up to the ceiling. Leo and Donnie rushed in.  
"Woah." Leo said, shocked.

"Emma?" Donnie said quizzically. "You look ... Different."

Emma ran over to them, and gave them a big hug. It startled them, they took a step backwards. Emma released and stepped away.  
"I ... I'm so glad to see you guys again! Those weird alien robot things - they did something to me." Emma said shakily and stared at her green hands.

"You've been mutated. But why would they ..." Leo couldn't finish what he was saying because Mikey fumbled through the doorway and crash into both him and Donnie. He wiped sweat from his brow and looked at Leo.  
"Is it just me or are these guys getting better at aiming." He joked. "What? Kraang got your tongues?"

Mikey pushed passed both of them; he saw Emma. He stared her up and down then said, "Hey, who's the turtle chick?!"

"Mikey, it's Emma." Leo whispered to him.

"A snapping turtle, to be precise." Donnie put in.

"Totally bizarro! You look like to us!"

Emma said nothing. She didn't know what to say. Donnie came over to her and undid the cuffs on her wrists. Emma rubbed the spot where the cuffs had been. Her wrists were throbbing and red.  
"It doesn't make sense why the Kraang would kidnap her just to mutate her into a turtle." Leo was thinking out loud.

"Uh, duh. They're the Kraang. They're ALWAYS mutating things!" Mikey replied.

"Well, yeah, but still. Why Emma?" Leo pondered.

Mikey slipped his arm around Emma's shoulders. "In my opinion, I'd say, you look way cuter as a turtle. It kinda suits ya!" He winked at her.

Donnie shook his head. "Mikey, she doesn't want to look like this."

"I'd hate to cut the reunion short but ... I could use some help out here!" Raph bellowed from the outer hallway. He was surrounded by at least ten robots.

"Woah, who's the dame?" He yelled back to his brothers.

"It's Emma. The Kraang did this to her." Leo, jumping in to help Raph, was the one to answer his question.

"We've got to get out of here. Emma, follow us and stay low." Leo called out, above the sound of the blaring alarm.

Together they all ran down the hall. Lasers were being shot at them from everywhere. Emma kept her head down like Leo had said. Leo led the way through the hall, making several turns.

Emma started falling behind, nearly tripping. Raph held her arm and pulled her along with him. "Come on!" He shouted.

She was breathless, they ran so fast, but she now had strength like never before ,thanks to her new body. Leo turned a corner, the others rammed into his back as he suddenly stopped. It was a dead end! There was nowhere for them to go.  
"Nice going, Leo! Now what?" Raph growled. He was furious and anxious. The attackers were only a few feet behind them and closing in fast.  
Raph whirled around, facing the oncoming enemy.

"If they're gonna take me down, I'm take most of 'em with me!" He flipped his sais in the air, caught them, and made a stance, ready to attack.

"Wait a minute, Raph. There's a window ledge up there!" Leo yelled. "Climb up!"

They all began climbing up to the ledge. Donnie helped Emma up. Mikey smashed the window glass which shattered all around. Leo went out the window onto an outer railing, followed by Mikey and Raph. Emma looked over the edge. They were at least twenty stories up. Emma backed away.

_No way am I doing this!_

"I can't do this! It's too high." She said.

"Don't worry, we won't let you fall, promise." Donnie said reassuringly.

"Ok."  
Emma crawled out of the window onto the railing outside. She felt woozy, looking down at the street and cars below. If she fell, she would die instantly. She gasped and closed her eyes. Donnie leapt beside her. He touched her shoulder.  
"Stay calm. Keep moving sideways."

Emma nodded slowly. She inched along the railing. She tried to focus on Raph, who was in front of her. It seemed like forever to Emma, until they finally stopped. Leo took a grappling hook from his belt, hooking it on a small metal pole sticking out of the building by his feet. He slid down the rope with ease.  
"COWABUNGA!" Mickey screamed as he flew down after Leo.

Next was Raph. "BONZAI!"

Now it was Emma's turn. She was shaking with fright. She shook her head furiously.  
"I'm afraid of heights! I can't do this!" Emma shouted back at Donnie.

"Yes, you can! Here hold on to me." Donnie held on to Emma's waist and grabbed the rope tightly in his fist.  
"Ready?! Here we go!" He yelled as he pushed off the side of the building.

Emma squealed. She clung onto him and shut her eyes. She didn't reopen them till they got to the ground.  
Once Leo made sure everyone made it safely, he took off running. The others ran after him. They climbed roof after roof, slowing down at some points to make sure nobody was shadowing them. After they knew they were safe, they went through a manhole. They took a minute or two to catch their breaths. Everyone was breathing heavy, especially Emma. She wasn't used to this sort of thing. She had no ninja training whatsoever.  
"Is everybody okay?" Leo asked through deep breaths.

"Yeah." Everyone mumbled.

"Alright, let's get back to the Lair." He said as he continued through the sewer, walking this time.

"So - Emma, what exactly happened when I dropped you off at your uncle's apartment?"

Emma walked beside Leo. "Well, I got in the place just fine. I found out it was a complete wreck, and started panicking. The owner of the building gave me his spare key for the time being. He said that my uncle has been missing for a week now. The weird thing is I talked to my uncle Drew yesterday morning."

"That's strange. Maybe he was taken hostage right after he got back from a business trip." Donnie added in.

"I thought that too but now I'm not so sure. I did find a note that he left, warning me to get out of the apartment." Emma replied. "That was when those alien robot things ..."

"You mean the Kraang." Leo corrected her.

"Yeah. They burst through the door and attacked me. I must have passed out or something cause the next thing I knew I was strapped to a table, looking like this."

"What about the blood stains we found?" Mikey asked.

"Blood stains?" Emma questioned.

"He means the puddle of blood that was in your apartment. We searched the place when you didn't show up. Donnie analyzed it and said it was yours." Leo said.

"Oh, that must've been when I tried to get away. I was climbing out onto the fire escape and one of the Kraang guys shot me."

"They did? Where?" Leo was concerned. He stopped and turned to Emma.

"Right here on my side." Emma pointed to her left side. "It doesn't hurt anymore though."

Leo inspected it, as did Donnie. There were stitches, but the wound was cleaned up.  
"Huh? Interesting, the Kraang shot you, but patched you up right away. Weird." Donnie said.

"Something fishy is going on at TCRI. They were careful not to shoot any of your vital organs. It was just a scrape. It had to have been to keep you from escaping but not dying. And another thing, there are no bruises, no other cuts, just that one. I'd say the Kraang think you're pretty important for their plans if they are this cautious." Leo pointed out.

Emma thought about it for a moment. What Leo was saying made sense. The Kraang didn't hurt her in any way - of course they did push her around a bit, but not like they would have if it were someone else.  
"What are those screwed up knuckle-heads planning?" Raph asked, he was next to Donnie with his arms folded.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good." Donnie said.

"If those metal dorks ever hurt Emma again I'll introduce them to the Turtle Titan!" Michelangelo said as he punched his right fist into his left palm, smiling.

Emma giggled but she was confused. She leaned over to Raph and whispered questionably, "the Turtle Titan?"

Raph whispered back. "Don't ask."

Leo cleared his throat. "Right, we should get back to the Lair."

They ran through the narrow sewer tunnels swiftly.


	8. Getting To Know Raphael

Once they got back to the Lair, Leo told Master Splinter what had happened; he let Emma tell her side of the story.

It was 5:00AM. Everyone was beat. Master Splinter allowed his sons to take a few hours rest before training, although he let Emma sleep in. Emma was sent to Mikey's room to sleep. She laid in the top bunk, tossing and turning, trying to get to sleep but it never came. She listened to all the noises around her - the creaking and clanging of pipes, the snores coming from the other rooms. She rolled onto her side. She was worried about her new life, about what would become of her now that she was a mutant, but mostly she worried about her uncle. He was somewhere, probably in the TCRI building or perhaps running for his life from the Kraang.

Emma couldn't stand laying there on the bed any longer so she climbed down, and opened the door to her room. It was pitch black in the hall. The other doors were closed. She stepped out and went down the stairs.

_Maybe a snack will help me get to sleep. _

She neared the kitchen, and saw that Raph was sitting at the counter. There was a pizza box out in front of him and he was holding a slice. Emma walked in. He stared at her, then went back to munching on his pizza. Emma sat down on a stool next to him.  
"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" He asked through a mouthful.

"No. Too worried about my uncle."

"Here, wanna a slice? It always calms my nerves."

He shoved the box over to her. Emma opened it and picked up a small piece of pizza. She took a bite. Realizing she was a lot more hungry than she thought, she ate a few more bites.  
"Woah, slow down there. You'll choke." Raph teased her.

"You're one to talk! You just shoved a whole piece in your mouth." She joked back.

"Hey, I'm getting rid of evidence so Mikey won't know that I ate his last pizza."  
Emma laughed. "I won't tell him if you let me eat half."

"You eat half a pizza? Please."  
The room went very quiet. They sat there, eating away the last few pieces.  
"So - why'd you move to the Big Apple?" Raph asked.

"Well, that's a long and kind of boring story."

"Try me." Raph said as he took another bite.

"I was, in a way forced to move here."

"What for?"

"It was either that or a foster home. Ya see, about a month ago my house caught on fire, killing my dad. My mum died when I was eight. My uncle said he would take me in."

"That's gotta be tough - no parents and all."

"Life's tough." Emma replied looking down at the table reminiscing in all the fun times she had with her parents.

"I don't know what I'd do without Master Splinter around. If I ever lost him again I'd go ballistic." Raph said breaking the silence.

"Again? What do you mean by that?"

"We nearly lost him when a psycho professor transformed himself into, who we call, the Rat King."

"The Rat King?" Emma mocked.

"Dumb name, I know. He actually had the power to hypnotize rats. He influenced Master Splinter to fight against me and my bros. It took everything we had to bring him down and convince him to come back to his senses."

"He's pretty amazing. He really looks out for you guys."

"Yeah."

Silence yet again. Raph and Emma finished the pizza they had in their hands, both reaching for the next slice at the same time. Their hands touched. Emma quickly pulled away. "Sorry, you can have it."

"You're just gonna give up on the last piece?" Raph asked like she had done something absolutely insane.

"You wanted it, so I just thought it would be polite to let you have it."

"Oh boy, have you got a lot to learn. Rule number one down here: if there is only one pizza slice take it! Otherwise, Mikey'll eat it."

"What kind of rule is that?!" Emma mockingly asked him.

"That's our rule for stayin' alive." Raph replied as he grabbed the last piece.

"You know what, I think I want the last bit of pizza." Emma said and took it from Raph's grasp.

"Wha ... Hey!"

Emma had already taken a bite before Raph could take it from her. He held it up, just out of reach from Emma.

Emma waved her hands up in the air trying to take it from him.

"I already took a bite so it's mine. Give it back!" She laughed and stood on her chair reaching for it, but Raph was up on his feet backing away. Emma fell to the floor. Raph chuckled. He inspected the pizza slice for a moment.  
"You're right. Now it's got your germs all over it. Eh, you can have it back." He tossed it to her but Emma didn't have time to get up let alone catch it, it fell on the ground.

"Aw man, I'm not gonna eat it now." Emma said.

"Why not? Five second rule right?" He was joking.

Emma frowned at him. "On this sewer floor? Nah. That's disgusting!"  
She picked it up and put it in the empty pizza box. Raph came over and leant on the table. He smiled mischievously.  
"Hey, you wanna help me with somethin'?"

"With what? Should I be worried?"

"I'm gonna play a little prank on Mikey."

Emma smiled. "Well, okay. What are we going to do?"

"We're gonna put the pizza box by him while he's sleeping. He'll think he ate it in his sleep. It'll get rid of the evidence!"

"Count me in!"

Together they crept into Raph's room where Mikey was currently staying. Mikey was snoring so loud that Emma thought the whole room was shaking. There was a small bed made on the floor for him, but he was laying completely sideways so only his legs were on it.

They set down the box next to his hand and opened the lid, making it look as if he fell asleep eating. Raph went over to his bed and got a box out from under it. He lift up the top to reveal a can of whip cream.  
"I thought we were just going to put the pizza box next to him?" Emma asked quietly.

"That was only half the prank." Raph half whispered.  
He began spreading the whipped cream on both of Mikey's hands. Mikey flinched a bit but didn't wake up.  
"What if he wakes up?!" Emma said nervously.

Raph just grinned. "Nothing or nobody could wake him up, except Master Splinter that is. Oh, and April."

"Who's April?"

"I'll tell ya later." Raph put away the whip cream. "Right, done."

"Won't he be upset? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Emma said.

"Don't chicken out on me now!"

They crept out of the room laughing quietly. It was only a matter of time before Mikey woke up and smeared whip cream all over his face. Raph yawned and stretched, making Emma yawn simultaneously.  
"I'd better hit the sack." He said.

"I should too."

"Can't wait to see Mikey's face when he wakes up! Well, I'll see ya in a few hours." Raph said as he went back into his room.

Emma giggled. "Night." She called back, crossing the hall to the room she was staying in. She climbed in bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.


	9. A New Home Part One

Leonardo woke up that morning to snoring coming from his brothers' rooms. It was 8:30AM. Normally he would've been up and ready for ninja training by 6:00, but they had had a late night last night.

He stood up and stretched. His body was aching all over, bruises covered every inch of him. He winced as he slowly walked over to the door and opened it. He went down to the kitchen, the lights were on. Master Splinter was at the table sipping a cup of Japanese-style tea when Leo came in. His eyes were closed but they opened as Leo sat down across from him.

Splinter stared at him and poured a cup for him. Leo accepted it gratefully. He drank a big gulp, it felt really good on his parched throat after being asleep.  
"Something is troubling you, my son." Splinter said as he took another sip of his tea.

Leo turned the cup in his hand, it was warm to the touch. He sighed. "It's nothing, Master Splinter."

Splinter gave him a stern look. Leo nervously looked around the room trying to avoid his gaze. "You are a bad liar. It is about our guest, Miss Dwyer, is it not?" Splinter said.

"I can never hide anything from you, Sensei. Yes, it's about Emma. I just think it's so strange that the Kraang would take such good care of her. She was shot but they patched her up immediately. Maybe, it's nothing to be worried about but I just can't imagine why they'd do that. I have a theory that they're planning something big and she's a part of it."

"And what is this theory, hmm?" Splinter asked questionably, raising one of his eyebrows.

"Well, her uncle was kidnapped, but he managed to leave a note. Emma said that he called her right before she got on a train from the airport. Here's what I think. Obviously, her uncle was taken by the Kraang - judging by his apartment - he put up quite a fight but knew he couldn't hold them off for too long so he left the note. I found pictures and files of a Kraang laboratory. He must have been gathering information on them for a while. My guess is he worked for TCRI and stumbled upon their true identity. They're no doubt forcing him to build or do something for them, and that's why they needed Emma - as a hostage. The Kraang could have made him call her to make sure she would be at the apartment but that seems unlikely, because he would've at least tried to warn Emma on the phone, but Emma said he sounded fine. Of course, I could be wrong but I don't think her uncle is who he pretends to be. It's quite possible that he worked with the Kraang even though he knew what they were doing, but now he's trying to stop it."

Splinter was silent for several minutes. He stroked his long furry beard. Then he spoke. "That is a good conclusion, Leonardo. We best not bring this up in front of Miss Emma. We will let her regain her strength, as well as you and your brothers, and the acceptance of the probability that she may never return to the world above. Now, go and wake your brothers. We start training shortly."

"Yes, Sensei." Leo got up and bowed respectfully to Splinter. He walked out of the kitchen and upstairs.

Leo stopped in front of Donnie's room first. He walked in and turned the light on.

"Don, get up. Ninja training." Leo shouted.

Donnie shot up, sitting straight, but as he pulled back his blanket he slipped, falling to the floor on his face. "Ow." Donnie mumble softly.

He got up and put a hand to his cheek, which was all red now from the fall. "Nice." Leo chuckled. "I give that about an 8.6."

Donnie brought his right arm across his chest, stretching. "Haha, very funny. Did you wake the gruesome twosome yet?"

"No, I saved the worst for last."

"How very thoughtful of you."

Leo and Donnie went over to the door right across the hall. Donnie put his hands to both sides of his head. "It's like someone's using a chainsaw or something! It's so loud."

"That's Mikey for ya." Leo replied.

They threw the door open. Donnie switched the light on. Mikey was sprawled out on the floor. He was covered in whip cream. Raph was asleep on his hammock lying on his stomach, his arms hanging over the side.  
"Alright, you two, get up!" Leo yelled.

Raph put his pillow over his head. "Yeah yeah, five more minutes."

He grumbled.

Leo picked up an Orange Crush can from the ground and threw it at Raph's back. "Splinter's waiting in the dojo so up and at em!"

Raph tossed his pillow at Leo. The pillow hit him in the face and Leo stumbled back a step. Raph chuckled. "Alright, I'm up. Sheesh, ya happy, oh wise and powerful leader?"

Raph hopped off the hammock to the floor. He shoved Mikey's head with his foot. "Hey, shell head, wake up."

Mikey rolled over to his other side. "No, no, it's not Christmas yet." Mikey mumbled in his sleep.

Raph raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Mikey, it's your lucky day because Christmas came early this year!"

He lifted both his hands and balled them into fists. "Now, which present you want first? A knuckle sandwich or the extreme noogie?"

Raph got down on one knee and was about to give him a noogie but Mikey suddenly sat up, screaming.  
"Ahhhh!" Raph cried out and fell backwards.

Leo and Donnie covered their ears. Mikey finally stopped and stared at them. Donnie put a hand to his chest. "You scared the shell off of us!"

Mikey smiled awkwardly. "Heh, sorry, dudes. Let me just say that Santa Claus is totally not a good role model for kids. He sneaks into people's houses and eats their cookies! Plus, he put me on his naughty list!"

Raph rolled his eyes as he sat up. "Wouldn't be the first time, Mikey. You're on everyone's naughty list."

Donnie and Leo looked at one another, then back at Mikey. "Little kid syndrome." They both said. Then they turned and walked out of the room.

Mikey felt something sticky on his hands. He looked down and saw that they were covered in a white substance. He smelt it and then licked it.

"Hmmm, whip cream. Hey, wait a minute ... I don't remember eating pizza last night."

Raph laughed quietly so Mikey couldn't hear then said to him. "Eh, you were probably sleep-walking last night."

"Hmm? Aw well!" Mikey gleefully got up and ran out the room.

Raph smiled to himself. He walked out and to the dojo. He did some stretching, as did Leo, Donnie, and Mikey. They sat on their knees and waited for Splinter.  
Leo watched as Splinter came through the door of his room. He stood in front of them.  
"My sons, you have grown considerably the past few months and soon you will be masters of ninjutsu yourselves ... But you have also gotten over confident. You have forgotten every basic training I have given you." Master Splinter spoke calmly but with anger.

Leo sunk down at those last words. "Sensei, we're doing the best we can. It's not our fault we were spotted and ..."

Splinter didn't give Leo time for an explanation. "We will go back to lesson one: becoming one with the shadows. You are not to use your weapons. Leonardo, Raphael, step forward."

Leo got up, Raph as well, and stood on opposite sides of the room. Splinter doused the lights, making shadows dance across the walls and ceiling. Leo and Raph made a battle stance, readying their attacks.

Mikey and Donnie moved back toward the wall to give Leo and Raph enough space. Leo breathed in and out, calmly, taking in his surroundings and opponent. It was dark, but not to the point where you couldn't see properly. Leo and Raph started circling each other waiting for the command to strike.

Splinter raised his arm in the air, then brought it down to his side as he said.

"Hajime." That was the call to begin the fight.

Raph was the first to attack. He made a sideways punch to the left, then quickly another to his right, aiming for Leo's face. Leo dodging with ease. Raph decided to go for Leo's legs with a sweeping kick.  
"Perfectly executed, Raphael." Master Splinter stated.

Leo jumped up in the air, just missing Raph's kick. Leo landed on top of Raph knocking him over on his back. Raph blocked Leo's attempt to hit him. Raph grabbed ahold of Leo's shoulders and threw him off of his stomach. Leo gasped for a breath as he quickly got to his feet, back into an attacking stance again. He shouted as he rammed into Raph.  
He then disappeared in the shadows. Raph turned in a full circle waiting for Leo to make his move. Leo was quiet, only making slight sounds when Raph was looking in the opposite direction.

He tapped lightly on Raph's head. Raph looked up but it was too late, Leo leapt on top of him. He put his forearm against Raph's neck.  
Splinter turned the lights on once again signaling the fight to come to an end. Mikey and Donnie clapped. Leo and Raph stood up straight, in front of Splinter.

"Leonardo, work on the timing of your attacks. Raphael, your counter-attacks were much too slow."

Leo and Raph bowed. "Yes, Master Splinter." They said at once.

"Donatello, Michelangelo, your turn." Splinter called.

Emma had been awake for a half hour now just thinking of everything that's happened. She sighed and got up. There was a mirror on the wall opposite of the bunk-bed. She stared at her reflection. She was completely different from her former self. She was green, had three fingers on each hand, only two toes, had a shell on her back, the only thing that was strange compared to the turtles was that she had four small spikes around the edge of her shell and they didn't.

Granted, she was a different species of turtle, but she still felt different, like a freak, compared to them.

_Why did this have to happen to me? I guess it was for the best, I got to meet four turtles who are just like me ... Well, almost._

Emma opened the door to the room. She went down the stairs and heard battle cries coming from the dojo. It looked dark in there and she didn't want to disturb anyone so she crept forward quietly. She peeked through the doorway and saw Mikey and Donnie attacking one another. At first she was confused and was about to run in there and stop them, but then she saw that Leo and Raph were sitting by the wall, watching them.

Emma kept to the wall and moved over to sit next to Leo.

"Mind if I join you guys?" She whispered to him.

He smiled. "Not at all."

Emma sat down cross-legged. She watched intensely as Mikey tried to punch and kick Donnie, but failed miserably.  
Mikey flipped in the air and landed a few feet away from Donnie.

"You can't hit me cause I'm doctor Flippenstein! You don't know what to do! Attack me, bro!"

Donnie was readying his attack, thinking everything through. He looked at Mikey, puzzled. "I don't even know what that means."

He ran forward and did a split kick in the air, hitting Mikey.

Mikey stuck his tongue out and held his stomach. "Not so hard, Don! I bruise easily."  
Splinter flicked the lights back on. He shook his head. "Michelangelo, you will do fifty backflips everyday for the next two weeks. I can tell you have not been practicing what I have shown you."

"Aw, Sensei. But I ..." Mikey began.

Splinter continued on to Donnie. "Well done, Donatello. Your split kick was excellent, but your hand-to-hand combat skills could use more work."

"Yes, Sensei."

Donnie and Mikey bowed. Master Splinter nodded. "That is all for today. You are dismissed."

Emma got up. She smiled at Donnie and Mikey. "That was amazing! You guys did all that in the dark?! That's awesome!"

"Yeah, I am pretty great." Mikey gloated while flexing his muscles.

"It takes practice and discipline." Donnie replied.

Leo came over and stood by Mikey. "Note to self: get Mikey new deodorant."

Emma giggled. Mikey looked at Leo then asked. "What's deodorant?"

Leo sighed. "Figures. Anyway, Emma, we need to discuss something with you."

"Ok, what is it?"

"It's about where you'll be staying. You can't go back to your uncle's apartment; because of the Kraang."

"She can't exactly stay up there anyways, because of her looks. Uh, I mean, not that you look bad or anything, you're beautiful ... I mean, what I'm trying to say is!" Donnie babbled on.

Emma laughed. "It's alright, I know what you mean. I don't really have anywhere to go."

"All four of us and Master Splinter talked about it earlier and we would like you to stay here ... With us." Leo finally blurted out.

"Yeah, just think, you'll be here with me! That outta make this decision easier!" Mikey said to Emma.

"Mikey, shut up already!" Raph yelled.

Emma was quiet for several minutes.

"You don't have to decide now ... We could even train you to become a ninja." Leo said.

"You know, I think I might take you up on that offer. I'll stay." Emma smiled.

"Woohoo! We finally have a girl on our squad! Dudes, we have to rename ourselves. Instead of the Awesome Foursome, we should be called the Fearsome Fivesome. No, wait. Uh, the Fearless Fifthsome?" Mikey yelled out random names while pacing back and forth.

"Give it a rest, would ya?! You're getting on my nerves!" Raph growled at him.

"Then, it's decided. You'll live here with us." Leo grinned.

"Welcome to the team." Donnie shook Emma's hand.

Raph came over and leaned on Emma's shoulder, grinning. "I hate to say it, but for once Mikey was right, the whole turtle look really does suit ya." He winked at her.

Emma blushed a bit. Raph laughed, apparently noticing that was she going red in the face so he stopped leaning on her.

Leo was standing off to the side not really knowing what to say.

Emma went over to him. "Thank you, for letting me stay here. It must be quite a change for you guys to have me around."

"No ... Uh ... It'll be a little different, sure, but it's gonna be great having you on the team. Of course, we'll have to find out what room you can have and all that." Leo stammered on.  
Emma giggled a little. She could tell Leo was somewhat nervous to talk to her. She wondered why. He looks confident when he fights and leads his brothers, but when he goes to talk to her he can't seem to say what he wants to. Emma shrugged.  
Mikey came and put his hands on both of Emma's shoulders from behind her. Emma jumped, startled and surprised at how he had suddenly snuck up on her like that. Mikey smiled, wide-eyed he looked at his brothers. "Guys! You know what this means?!"

"No, what?" They all asked at once.

Mikey replied excitedly. "Dudes, Emma isn't one of us until she gets a mask! Come on, she's practically naked without one!"

"Ok, that's just making me feel really self-conscience of myself." Emma said awkwardly.

"Um, Mikey? Maybe you should think before you speak." Donnie stated.

"Mikey, think? Boy, have you lost it, brainiac. He's got a point though. She does need a mask, I mean, it describes who we are." Raph retorted.

"Well, Emma, it's your call. Would you like a bandana or no?" Leo asked.

"Duh, of course! You guys all have one, so it just makes sense that I have one too."

"Alright, we'll go topside to April's place and see if she has the material for one. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Emma then asked Leo. "Who's April? I remember Raph mentioning her before."

"She's a good friend of ours. Let's go gentlemen! ... And Emma."

With that they ran out of the dojo and to the sewer tunnel

(So glad everyone is enjoying this story! Thank you all for reading! For all those people who keep asking what version of the Turtles is this story with, its a mix of ALL the TV shows and movies put together. I couldn't decide what Turtles to use so I just used all of them lolz. :) )


	10. A New Home Part Two

They finally reached the manhole cover that would lead them to the world above. The sewers were dark and musty, Emma longed for fresh air from topside, as the Turtles would say.

Donnie climbed the ladder, which was rusty and covered in slime - Emma didn't even want to know what that gooey substance was - he used his bow staff to lift the heavy cover off. He leapt out followed by Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Emma.

They were in an abandoned alleyway littered with trash. Emma recalled the time when she was attacked by the Purple Dragons, it really made her shiver.

Leo noticed and came over to stand beside her. "It's alright. We won't let anything like that happen to you again." He whispered.

Emma nodded and tried to smile. Leo smiled then, looking at his brothers, jerking his head upwards signaling them to get to the rooftops. The turtles jumped from one side of the wall to the other, reaching the roof in no time. Sure, it was easy for them but Emma had never done anything like this.

Leo was about to jump up, but stopped and knelt down, his shell facing Emma. "Here, climb on." He said.

Emma hopped on his back, her arms around his neck.

"Sorry, I'm being such a bother. I've just never done stunts like this before." She said.

"You don't have to be sorry. It'll take awhile until you learn how to do these kind of things. Just relax, you'll get it once you start training." He said reassuringly.

That made Emma feel a bit better. Leo made sure she was ready and was holding on tight as he jumped up and side to side, pushing off of one wall to the next all the way to the top. His muscles straining with the extra weight but he wouldn't dare show that. He continued up, finally jumping to the building's ledge. His brothers were standing there waiting for him.

Emma jumped off his back.  
"Right, let's get going." Leo said.

He ran to the edge of the building and did a flip, making it to the other building. He landed on his feet and grinned mischievously. "Try and top that!" He called back.

"I'll admit that was good, Leo, but check this out!" Raph grunted.

He took a running start and did two flips before jumping over the side, doing three twists in mid air. He reached the other side on his hands, pushing up to jump on his feet and land.

Emma was shocked at how skilled that was compared to Leo's amazing flip. Leo, arms crossed, frowned that Raph out maneuvered him. Raph just grinned and rubbed it in.

Donnie went next. He did a corkscrew-type of flip, and flipped once more before leaping over the edge. He flew threw the air doing a cartwheel, landing on his feet across the gap from Emma and Mikey.  
"Huh, show off." Raph mumbled.

It was Mikey's turn. He took a few steps back and shouted, "Cowabunga," before making his way to the other side.

He hopped from foot to foot as he ran, when he reached the edge, he pushed himself off the side of a small brick wall which made him spiral to the next roof. He failed the landing part and cannonballed into Raph, Donnie, and Leo.

"Ugh, Mikey!" They all shouted. Mikey just laughed awkwardly, then got off of them.

Emma stood on the other side. Now it would be her turn. She peeked over the ledge nervously. Backing away, she looked at the turtles on the other side. They were cheering her on.  
"You can do it, come on!" Leo shouted to Emma encouragingly.

Emma shut her eyes and breathed calmly in and out. She backed up and shot forwards, running as fast as she could before leaping over the edge. She was nearing the building's roof but started falling down, she wasn't going to make it! She reached out trying to grab the ledge but missed.

Suddenly, someone grabbed her hand, she was no longer plummeting to her death. She looked up to see Donnie pulling her to safety.

"Here, give me your other hand." He said.

Emma brought her other hand up so he could help her up. Donnie pulled her over the ledge. They were gasping for breath. Raph, Leo, and Mikey were laughing like crazy. Raph wiped a tear from his eye, he was laughing so hard. Leo was on his knees with a hand on his chest, he couldn't stop laughing. Mikey was rolling on the ground. Emma got to her feet, frowning.  
"Nice one, Emma, but next time try actually landing on the roof!" Raph chuckled.

"Well, sorry I don't have the skills you do, oh great and powerful ninja master." Emma retorted.

"What was that? Nobody talks to me in that tone of voice and gets away with it! You really think you can take me on? Sarcasm is my thing." Raph snapped.

"I don't think, I know."

"Oh, feeling courageous, are we? Well, bring it on!" Raph hit his fist in the palm of his hand jokingly.

Leo stopped in front of Raph. "Quit joking around. We need to move before we're seen." He ordered.

"She started it." Raph pointed a finger at Emma.

Emma stuck her tongue out at him while Leo had his back turned to her. Mikey and Donnie were giggling off to the side. Leo walked away from Raph.

"Well played." Raph said to Emma.

Mikey lifted Emma's hand in the air. "One point for Emma! Raph zip."

Leo and Donnie rolled their eyes. "Guys, it's light out so we need to keep moving." Leo said urgently.

"Let's get to April's place." He then knelt down in front of Emma again. "Get on. We wouldn't want any more accidents."

Emma grinned and got on his back. They jumped on to the next roof.  
The sky was cloudy, threatening to rain but the rain never came. Cars were noisily driving by, most lanes were clogged up in traffic. That's the big city for ya, Emma thought to herself.

Leo was panting really hard. Emma felt bad that he had to carry her. A bead of sweat formed on his brow, but he continued on.  
Mikey ran beside Leo. He looked at Emma and asked, "What color bandanna are you gonna have?"

Emma considered for a moment then replied, saying, "To be honest, I haven't really thought about it."

"In my opinion, you should totally go for a bright yellow! It kind of goes with your attitude, cute and hopeful." He exclaimed.

"You think so?" She asked.

Raph ran to Mikey's other side, running with him stride for stride.

"Mikey, she's a girl. Girls like pink and flowery things. I say she should go for a light pink."

"Hey bud, back off! Style and fashion is my thing!" Mikey said while jumping to the next roof.

"Since when do you care about style?!" Raph retorted.

Emma just laughed and rolled her eyes. As Raph and Mikey squabbled back and forth about what color she should have for her bandanna, Emma sunk into her thoughts.

In a way she was glad that she got mutated. She wouldn't have to go to a new school and be bullied. No after school job. No taking the subway or taxi home. Sure, she would have to do ninja training, but she was excited about that.

She remembered Raph said that the bandanna color represented who they were. Pink never really worked for her. She wore pink t-shirts and stuff, but everyone always said that she suited a purple better. Besides, she didn't like the color pink much anyway, not that she was a tomboy or anything, she just wasn't a big fan of it.

Emma went against choosing purple, it was Donatello's color not hers. She would definitely not choose a color that the turtles were wearing.

_It's hard trying to decide on a color,_ she sighed. _There's always black, or maybe white? Nah, those are too plain. I like the color turquoise but it resembles Leo's so I can't choose that one either. _

Emma drew away from her thoughts as the turtles climbed down a fire escape on the side of a building. Once they reached the ground below, Leo let Emma down. She thanked him and noticed that they were waiting at a side door in an alley.

Donnie knocked three times and they waited. Emma took a look at her surroundings. The building was just an ordinary building with two stories. There was an antique store below with probably an apartment complex above. The lights were on in the old store. The alley they were in was actually quite clean, well, in front of the side entrance to the building anyway.

Emma heard a click from the door handle. Someone was opening it. The door swung inwards and a women with baggy tan pants and a purple short-sleeved shirt that only reached her belly stood there smiling. Her reddish hair was tied up in a bun with loose strands hanging down. She was pretty and looked to be in her early twenties, she thought.

Emma stood towards the back of the group. She would wait to be introduced before stepping forward.  
The guys all smiled back at her. "Yo April! Long time no see!" Raph said.

"I was wondering when you guys would visit me again! Actually, you fellas came in the nick of time. I need help moving some furniture into my store." April said.

"Well, babe, if it's just furniture, I'm your turtle." Mikey replied.

"Come on in! Sorry it's such a mess in here, I'm doing a little bit of redecorating. The shop could use some cheering up."  
April opened the door wider and waved them in.

Mikey, Raph, and Donnie eagerly went in. Leo stood in front of Emma, who was the last one to enter. "April, I'd like you to meet someone." Leo stated before moving inside so Emma could come in.

April allowed Emma inside before closing the door closed. She stared at Emma. "Another turtle?! Who's this?" She asked.

"Technically she's a snapping turtle. Her name is Emma." Donnie pointed out.

Emma held her left arm, feeling a little nervous and awkward meeting someone new. April smiled and came over to her, saying, "pleased to meet ya! I'm April. April O'Neil. These guys haven't been driving you crazy have they? Where did they find you?"

Emma was pleased that April didn't seem to think anything of her being a turtle. After all, April was friends with Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie, so what was one more turtle added to the team.

Emma didn't feel nervous anymore, she answered all of April's question.

"No, they've been great. I've really enjoyed staying with them. They saved me in an alley. It's kind of a long story."

"Well, I just so happened to be making hot chocolate when you guys showed up, and I have freshly baked sugar cookies. How about you guys stay for a while?" April offered.

The turtles looked at one another then shouted, "shell yeah!"

Everyone headed upstairs, April leading the way. They got into April's apartment. It was small but real pretty. She had an oak dining table next to the entrance of her kitchen. The living room walls were painted an orange color with tan furniture to match. There was a bathroom to the right of the room and what looked to be two bedrooms and an office on the left. The carpet was a cream color and so soft.

Leo and Donnie sat down at the table. April went to the kitchen getting the hot chocolate and cookies ready. Raphael and Mikey sat down on the couch in front of the t.v.

It wasn't long before April came back in with a tray of mugs and a plate of marshmallows and cookies.

Emma pulled out a chair and sat down right across from Leo, Donnie was to her right at the foot of the table. Mikey ran over and plopped down in a chair to Emma's left. Raph came in too, sitting down beside Leo.

April passed out the cups of hot chocolate and set the cookies in the middle of the table for everyone. Emma grabbed a few marshmallows and dropped them in her cup. They melted creating a sugar foam on the surface of the hot chocolate.

Emma had a sip, it was like heaven in a mug, but it was hot. She sat the cup down, waiting for it to be cool enough to drink more.

Mikey took a huge gulp of it and, realizing it was hot, spat it back into his cup. "Oh, gross, Mikey!" Donnie said.

Emma giggled. Mikey stuck his tongue out while saying, "It's hot!"

"You don't say" , Raph replied while rolling his eyes.

"So ... Emma, how did you come to be living with the turtles?" April asked.

"Well ..." Emma began.

She told her of how her father had died and she had to move to New York, how the turtles had heroically saved her from the Purple Dragons, how she was kidnapped when she went to her uncle's apartment, and then finally how she got mutated.

Mikey added jokes now and then. Donnie and Raph told April how they managed to find Emma in the Kraang laboratory. Leo listened in silence, not speaking a word, just staring at his cup. Emma wondered why.

_Maybe he's just lost in his own thoughts_, Emma thought to herself.

Leo eventually snapped out of it, when they finished telling April about Emma. April had listened attentively to every word, laughing now and then to Mikey's jokes and Raph's sarcastic remarks. It was starting to get dark out, they had spent the whole day at April's.  
"Sounds like you've had a rough couple of days, Emma. I'm sorry you got mutated and all." April said sympathetically.

Emma shrugged, "Things happen for a reason. Since my dad died my life wasn't really worth living, and even though my uncle is still missing, I feel happy. I will find my uncle, but he may not want me now; because of how I look. But there is a bright side to all of this! I got to meet Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie."

April smiled and nodded at Emma's words.  
"Oh, April, the reason we came was to see if you had some material for a bandana for Emma." Leo said.

"I'm pretty sure I have some in the shop. Emma, you wanna come with me and have a look? I need to lock up the store anyway."

"Yes!" Emma replied excitedly.

"Great! How about you guys stay up here. We'll be back up in a few minutes." April suggested.

Mikey and Raph ran over and sat on the couch turning on a wrestling show. Donnie found a newspaper and started reading. Leo sat, legs folded, meditating.  
April and Emma headed downstairs. April walked to the front door of the shop, locked it, and pulled down the blinds.

"Ok, the material and stuff should be over here." She pointed to a shelf in the far corner by the cashier counter.

"What color do ya want the bandana?" She asked as she pulled neatly folded material of the tall shelf.

"I'm not quite sure really," Emma answered. "I was thinking maybe a yellow or a pink kind of color."

"You're in luck cause I've got plenty of those colors. How about we try making a bandana from both a yellow and a pink then decide which one suits ya best?"

"Sounds good to me."

April measured Emma's head size and started cutting soft pink and bright yellow materials. It took them only ten minutes to make two different colored bandanas.  
"Alright, now try this one first." April handed Emma the pink bandana. Emma tied it around her head. It fit perfectly.

"Hmm ... Try the yellow one." April suggested.  
Emma tried the yellow and looked in a big mirror behind her.

Emma grinning, said, "I like this one the best!"

"You look amazing in yellow!" April exclaimed. "You think that's the one?"

"Yes, this is the one." Emma replied.

They put everything away and cleaned up the shop.

"Emma, what do you think of the turtles?" April asked.

"Huh? I think they're great guys. They're so kind and sweet, although Raph can be a little mean at times but ..."

"No, I mean, is there one specifically that you like?"

"What?! I don't know," Emma spoke awkwardly. She was blushing quite a bit - her face completely red.

April smiled.  
"Your face says a different story. Come on, you like one of them don't you?!"

"Actually, not just one."

"Oh my gosh! You like two of them?! Which ones?! You gotta tell me!"

"Not just two either."

"Wait a sec. You like all four?!"

"Well ... Yes ... No? ... Ugh, I don't know!"

"You've got problems."

"Tell me about it."

"You know, you're gonna have to choose at some point. How about this, I help you out so you can decide! I'll play matchmaker for a while."

"What?! No! ... Aw, please don't."

"You just leave everything to me!" April said cheerfully.

Emma shook her head, there was no way to stop April so she went along with it. April grabbed Emma's hand and they went back upstairs. April burst through the door of her apartment excitedly. She had told Emma to wait out in the hall until she gave an introduction.

April smiling, began loudly saying, "Gentlemen I give you the new, the improved, the amazing, Emma!"  
Emma slowly walked into the room rolling her eyes. Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie all dropped what they were doing and came over to her.  
"Wow!" Leo said.

He was staring at her, mouth open in a slight smile.

"Woah, totally tubuloso! Did I tell ya or did I tell ya?! Yellow is so her color!" Mikey exclaimed. He had his hands on his hips and was grinning at Emma.

Emma blushed a bit because everyone was staring at her. She hated it when she was the center of attention - it made her feel awkward.

Raph was standing off to the side, eying her. "You clean up pretty good."

"By that, Raph actually means you were good looking before, but now you're a hot babe!" Mikey smirked.

"Emma, you look amazing! The bandana really brings out your eyes and personality." Donnie complemented.

"Boy-ya-yoi, I think I'm in love!" Mikey said while holding his chest. "She's so hot I can feel my shell tightening!"

"Mikey, we can all hear you." Raph remarked.

"Thanks guys," Emma said while giggling.

"It's official, Emma, you are now an honorary Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!" Leo said. He held his hand up in the air. Mikey Raph, and Donnie came over to him and did the same, slamming their hands into his, shouting out, "High three!"  
They looked back at Emma. She smiled and put her hand up to join theirs. They all yelled at once saying, "Boy, do I love being a turtle!"


	11. Spending Time With Donnie

In the Lair ... 7:30 AM.

"Emma, wake up! It's time for ninja training!" Someone was shouting from outside Emma's door.

Emma rubbed her eyes, sat up and stretched. It had been three days since they went to April's place.

Leo and Donnie had cleaned out a storage room down the hall from theirs - while Raph and Mikey went to get Emma's bags from her uncle's apartment - so Emma would be able to have her own space.

Emma enjoyed finally having her own room. It was small and comfy. She only had a bed, a small table next to the bed, and a bookshelf. She had no real need for her shoes and clothes, or jewelry for that matter, so she got rid of them. She kept only some novels that she liked and pictures of her mom and dad.

Emma walked over to her door and opened it. Leo was standing there.

"Um ... Good morning. We are starting training now." He said.

Emma smiled and followed Leo to the dojo. Everyday the turtles got up for training then got breakfast, that way no one would get sick from having a full stomach.

Emma's stomach was growling very loudly. Leo heard it and chuckled.

"You hungry or are you just sleepwalking?" He teased.

"Haha, you're hilarious. I'm starving!"

"So am I, although today is Mikey's turn to cook."

"Is he really bad at cooking or something?"

"No, worse!"

"At this point I'll eat anything!" Emma exclaimed.

"You say that now but just wait till you taste his cooking!"

They got inside the dojo and stood in a straight line with Mikey, Raph, and Donnie. Then, Master Splinter entered. He glared at them with his hands behind his back, while walking back and forth in front of them. He stopped and said, "Today we will be working on your combat skills. No weapons. Leonardo, Michelangelo, give us an illustration."

"Yes, Sensei." They said in unison.

They stepped on opposite sides of the carpet, readying themselves for the match. Mikey grinned mischievously. Leo rolled his eyes and stretched.

"Hajime!" Splinter shouted.

"I'm over here, Leo, come and get me!" Mikey laughed as Leo tried to land a hit on him. Mikey simply jumped over him. "Oh, now I'm over here! No ... Wait I'm here ... No, there! I'm everywhere!"

Leo ran forward, Mikey blocking his attacks. It looked pretty even until Leo ducked Mikey's punch and grabbed his ankles, flipping Mikey off his feet. Leo slammed his foot on top of Mikey's stomach and grinned, putting his hands on his hips.  
"Wow, that was a quick fight." Emma stated.

"It's Leo against Mikey, no contest." Raph put sarcastically.

Splinter didn't seem pleased with the results. "Michelangelo," he said.

"You are distracted. You must clear your head if you are to win a battle. Why are you not concentrating?"

"Pfft, Sensei, I think that's obvious. Emma's in the room, so he's showin' off. Huh, Mikey?!" Raph teased.

"Shut up, you ... You ... Uh ... Uh, dipstick!" Mikey replied.

"Ooooo, what a good comeback," Raph mocked.

When training was over they all got breakfast. It actually wasn't as bad as what Leo had told Emma and she was thankful for that.

It was now 8:00pm, they had been hanging out at the Lair all day. Nothing exciting happened.

Emma had been reading a book but, now she was bored - so she came and sat on the couch while Leo watched Space Heroes. Raph was hitting his punching bag. Mikey was playing on his Shell cell. Leo was watching the show when the T.V. suddenly turned off.

Leo banged on it while shouting, "Don, the t.v.'s not working again!"

Donnie came in the room with a toolbox. He knelt down beside the back of the t.v. "Hmm, looks like we need to replace the power cord. It has a short in it. Luckily, that's an easy fix."

Just then Mikey ran over and skidded on the ground to where Donnie was.

"Dude, we have an emergency! The Shell cell's not working, and I was on a boss level in Super Mario! Please, ya gotta fix!"

Donnie sighed, "alright, just as soon as I finish fixing the t.v."

Raph wiped sweat from his forehead, jumped over and sat down on the couch.

"Hey, that reminds me. Don, there's a leak from one of the pipes in my room."

Donnie frowned while saying, "Guys, I've only got two hands with three fingers! Cut me some slack will ya?!"

Splinter called from the dojo area. "Donatello, the lightbulb is going out in the dojo. It needs to be replaced."

"Grr, that is it! I have to do everything around here! You guys never repair anything! Well, you'll have to now because I quit!" With that Donnie stormed out of the room and into his lab.

Raph, Leo, and Mikey looked at one another, then Raph spoke. "That was melodramatic wasn't it? Usually, throwing temper tantrums is my thing."

"Wonder what's eatin' him?" Leo pondered.

"The dude's totally gone nutsoid!" Mikey said.

Emma stood up. "I'll go talk to him." She said as she ran over to Donnie's lab.

She walked into the room and cleared her throat so Donnie would know she was here. Donnie was sitting in his chair in front of the computer.

He didn't look back. "What is it now?! Just leave me alone for a few minutes and then I'll fix the t.v."

He looked behind him and saw Emma. His eyes widened and he said, "I ... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." He sighed and swung his chair around to face her.

Emma came closer to him, and replied, saying, "It's ok. You seem really stressed."

"You have no idea." He sighed loudly. "I'm just sick and tired of them saying, "Donnie, fix that" or "Donnie, fix this". It gets a little old after a while. Being the resident genius doesn't always pay."

"I understand ... Maybe getting out for a bit would help you calm down? We could go up top?" Emma suggested.

"I don't know. I have a lot to do." He looked up at Emma, disappointment written all over her face.

"Oh, ok then. Some other time, I guess." She turned to leave when Donnie got up and grabbed her hand.

"You know what? That sounds like a good idea. I'll be able to get some fresh air, clear my head some."

Emma smiled. They left the room. Emma made sure to tell Leo that they were going out for an hour or so before they left. Her and Donnie ran out into the sewer tunnels and up to the surface.

It was busy with cars on the streets. Lamp posts were turned on illuminating the dark footpaths. Store windows were barred up, lights turned off making them look abandoned.

Emma had been practicing jumping from one roof to the next, she was quite good at it now. Although, she was a total amateur compared to Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey, but she was still learning.

Her and Donnie stopped on one rooftop over-looking a bridge. It was a nice view. The moonlight reflected off of the water. Cars noisily rushed over the bridge above the gloomy river. There were a couple of warehouses by the docks. The docks were filled with boats anchored to the wooden beams.

Emma sat on the ledge of the roof looking out to the river. Donnie sat down next to her.  
"Beautiful night, isn't it?" He asked.

"Yeah." Emma replied.

"It feels good to be out of the Lair. I forgot why I was mad earlier."

It went real quiet as they watched the small waves of the water rise and crash down. Emma broke the silence. "Hey, Donnie? Do you think I'll ever find my uncle?"

"Sure you will. Don't give up. We'll find him, I promise."

"That's not exactly what I'm worried about. What if he sees me and thinks I'm a monster? ... And hates me for what I've become?"

"Emma, you shouldn't fret about things like that. If he truly cares about your safety then he won't care about your looks. To me, you're absolutely gorgeous."

As soon as Donnie realized what he had said he blushed. "Uh, what I meant was ... We'll find him and invent a cure for your mutation."

Emma laughed slightly. "To be completely honest, I'm not so sure I want to be human anymore. With this body I won't have to go to school or get through rush hour in the subway! Besides, you don't even have a cure so what's the point in getting my hopes up?"

They stared at one another then Donnie suddenly shot to his feet, bow staff in hand and ready to fight.  
Emma was shocked. "Wha ...?"

"We're being watched. Get behind me and get ready to run." He talked in a hushed tone.

Emma slowly stood up and got behind him. She looked around at the other rooftops but saw no one.  
"Come out! We know you're there!" Donnie shouted.

As soon as he said that, a dozen men came out from their hiding places. They wore black army suits with combat boots to match and held strange guns that Emma hadn't seen before.

Donnie had a look of worry on his face. "Oh no," was all he could whisper before the men attacked.

The enemy fired their guns. The bullets were coming straight for Donnie but he was quick and flung them away with his staff.

Emma looked at the bullets in a confused way. The bullets were in fact, needles with some white liquid inside of them. The men got closer, soon they were on the same roof as her and Donnie were.

Donnie tossed something from his belt, it was a smoke screen. He scooped Emma up in his arms and leaped off the building. They landed with a thud on the pavement. They had landed on their sides, and were just getting up when more men in military clothes surrounded them.

One of the men yelled in a deep and booming voice. "Surrender, mutant! You have nowhere to run!"

Donnie wouldn't give up so easily. He gripped his bow firmly and charged forward, knocking soldiers out of the way.

Emma joined in but was quickly overwhelmed. Two men had pinned her down on the ground while another pointed his dart gun at her neck. He was about to shoot, but Donnie whammed into his side, sending him flying into a brick wall. He pulled the two guys off of Emma and helped her up.  
"Thanks." She said.

Donnie nodded before plunging into the fight once more. Emma kicked and punched at all the soldiers. Their numbers were growing by the minute. She knew that her and Donnie alone wouldn't be able to hold them off for long.

Emma defeated three men, and whirled around in time to see Donnie struggling to fend off five attackers. One man was standing a few feet away and aimed his gun at Donnie. Emma ran over to stop him, but it was too late. The needle was sent flying and found its target.

Donnie grunted as the needle entered his shoulder. He fell to his hands and knees. "No!" Emma screamed.

The five men Donnie was attacking were beating him up. They kicked his arms and face until he fell on his stomach. Emma punched two of the guys and knocked them out cold. She fought off the others and knocked them out too. She then knelt beside Donnie. He was bruised up really bad. Blood covered his arms and legs where the mens' sharp-edged boots dug into his skin.

Emma flipped Donnie onto his back and leaned her head on his chest, listening for a heartbeat.

_Good, he's still breathing. I have to get him out of here!_

Emma hauled Donnie to his feet and put his arm around her shoulders. She started dragging him over to a storm drain.  
"Emma, get ... Away... Leave me." He stammered quietly.

"No, I'm not leaving you! Whatever was in that needle made you very weak. You won't be able to fight these guys off by yourself especially in your current state." Emma replied defiantly.

"The needle ... contains a strong form of ... A chloroform tonic. If you get hit ... We'll both be caught!" He said through clenched teeth.

He was trying so hard to stay awake. His eyes were closing shut. Soon he would be in a deep sleep.

Emma knew this and tried to go faster. She pulled out her Shell cell and speed-dialled Leo. It rang and rang. Emma was panicking. She and Donnie could use back up.

Leo finally answered. "Emma? What's up?"

"Leo! Please, we need help! Donnie's passing out and we're being attacked!"

"Where are you two?!"

"By the docks, over by the Brooklyn bridge. We are currently by the warehouse 118. We are on the south side and ..!" Emma couldn't finish what she was saying.

She felt a sharp pain as a needle flew into her neck. She stumbled forward onto her side, dropping Donnie on the ground. Her head was spinning. The Shell cell was by her right hand but she couldn't move.

She could faintly hear Leo's voice yelling on the phone. "Emma?! Emma?! What happened?! You there? Please respond!"

She looked up to see the men in black uniforms lifting Donnie off the ground and into a truck. Her eyes shut as she was being dragged over to the vehicle along with him. The men picked up her Shell cell and Donnie's Bo staff, leaving no evidence behind.

The last thing she remembered was the truck driving off. She fell unconscious.

_Not again!_ She thought.

Author's Note: Thank you all for reading my story so far! I really hope you are enjoying it as much as I enjoy writing it! Please, comment or message me if you have an idea of who Emma will end up with in the end. I won't reveal the right Turtle for awhile yet but I'm curious to read your thoughts on it! This story has just begun! :D


	12. Man In Black

Leo re-dialed Emma's Shell cell but no answer came. He gave up and stuck it back in his belt. Raph and Mikey walked into the kitchen where Leo was.  
"What's up with you?" Raph asked.

"I just got an urgent call from Emma saying her and Donnie were being attacked by the docks over at the Brooklyn bridge."

"Emma sure is popular with the freaks, isn't she? What next, the squirrelnoids?"

Raph sarcastically joked.

"Don't jinx us, Raph." Leo replied.

He pulled out his Shell cell. "Ok, each Shell cell has a tracker system implanted in it to locate the others. Hopefully, Her and Donnie's are turned on."

Leo opened the tracker on his cell and it started beeping. Two small dots appeared on the screen. "Yes, success! We'll be able to find them."

"Uh, Leo? Why are the dots moving?" Mikey asked.

Leo took another look at the screen. Mikey was right, they were moving.

"Either Emma and Donnie got away and are running like crazy ..." Leo said.

Raph finished his sentence. "Or they've been caught."

"Gentlemen, let's move out!" Leo ordered.

Raph and Mikey didn't ask questions, they quickly grabbed their weapons and followed Leo out the Lair. They ran through the soggy sewer tunnels, stopping every so often so Leo could make sure they were going the right way. They went topside a few blocks away from the Lair.

Climbing up to the rooftops, Leo stopped so suddenly that both Raph and Mikey crashed into his back sending him forward a step or two. He frowned at them and then looked back at his Shell cell.

Raph tapped his foot on the ground impatiently. "What's the hold up, Leo?"

Leo shook his head. "Don't know. The tracker isn't working or something. Emma and Donnie aren't showing up on it."

Mikey came over and grabbed it from Leo. "Let me see!"  
He touched every button on the Leo's Shell cell until Raph swiped it from him.

"Mikey, you couldn't find your way out of a brown paper bag, what makes you think you can get it to work?!"

Mikey starting making faces at Raph. Raph slapped him on the shoulder. Mikey let out a yelp and rubbed the place where he was hit. Leo took the Shell cell back from

Raph and inspected the tracker once more.

"Ok, the last place I saw them was right here by 5th Avenue." He stated.

"Lets head over there and try to find out where they went."

Emma awoke to the sound of a small buzzing noise like that of a dentist drilling a tooth for a filling. Her head was spinning. Her neck hurt from where the needle penetrated her skin. She opened her eyes.

The room was dark to where she couldn't see clearly. She realized that the room wasn't dark, but that she was wearing a sack over her head. Her legs and arms wouldn't move. She laid flat on a hard metal surface struggling to free herself. She heard a familiar voice, but it was muffled because of the sack.

Emma felt that the ruck sack over head was closing in on her to where she couldn't breath properly. Suddenly, the sack was ripped from off her head. She blinked a few times, adjusting her vision .

There wasn't a lot of light in the room just one small lightbulb above her head. Emma looked around. She saw medical equipment and all sorts of cages that were completely empty. There was tile flooring and a blacked out glass window in front of her. The strange room was pretty big with a steel door to the right of her.

She heard the familiar voice again from the left of her. She turned her head, wincing at the sharp pain in her neck and shoulders.

"Donnie!" She exclaimed.

The metal surface she was laying on rose slightly to where she was in an upright position. She tried pulling her hands free from their bonds but quickly gave up seeing that they were steel and couldn't be broken.  
"Donnie, where are we?! Are you ok?" She asked concerned.

Donnie was in the same position on the metal table as she was. He looked at her then replied. "I don't know. I'm fine just a bit bruised. How bout you?"

He didn't care about himself, he wanted to make sure Emma was alright.

Emma nodded. Donnie pulled on the metallic clamps around his wrists. A light above his head turned on making him flinch.

A man emerged from the shadows laughing maniacally. The man was wearing sunglasses, a black shirt and pants along with a long black trench coat.

Boy, is his favorite color black or something? And what's with the sunglasses?

The man spoke in a creepy deep voice giving Emma goosebumps.

"It's good to see you again, Donatello."

"The feeling's not mutual." Donnie retorted.

"Aw, and why's that?"

"Well, Bishop, last time I checked you tried to saw Mikey in half!"

The man frowned and came closer to Donnie. "It was all for scientific research. Think of all mankind could learn from the mutagen coursing through your veins!"

"Mutagen is dangerous!" Donnie warned.

Bishop smiled evilly and went over to Emma.

"Tell me, Donatello - last time we met up there were four of you, all males - so how is there a fifth, a female? Let me guess, she was human and came in contact with the mutagen."

"Precisely. That's why you can't use it! If you do, more people could end up like us or worse!" Donnie said.

Bishop stood in front of Emma, just staring at her.  
Emma frowned. "Get the shell away from me, you creep."

Bishop laughed. "She's a feisty one, isn't she?!"

"Back off! Your business is with me, Bishop." Donnie said, his hands now balled into fists.

"That's not completely true, Donatello. You see, I need both you and your girlfriend here."

Donnie stammered on. "She ... She's not my girlfriend!" He blushed bright red.

If we weren't in big trouble this would be hysterical, Emma thought.

Bishop walked over to a table and picked up a huge knife. He ran his thumb along it's edge slicing it open. Blood oozed out of his thumb. He grinned, happy with the blade's  
sharpness. He then put on clear elastic gloves.

Emma gulped. "Donnie, please tell me you've got an escape plan."

"I wish I did, Emma ... I wish I did." Donnie replied.

Bishop turned to Donnie, blade in hand. "Sorry, but I cannot permit you to have any anesthetic, as it could cause scientific data about your intelligence to be lost. Now, let's see that genius mind of yours." He declared.

Bishop was now moving closer and closer to Donnie.

Donnie fought against the bonds around his wrists but nothing worked.

"Hey, if you would really like to know how smart I am all you had to do was ask! You know I think it's probably from all the pizza I eat ... Or then again ...!" Donnie stammered on.

"Shut up! I'm more interested in your brain and blood than your mouth." Bishop bellowed.

Donnie turned his head and shut his eyes as the blade grew nearer to his face. The knife had barely touched his skin when bishop withdrew it.

Emma had closed her eyes too, but now re-opened them. Donnie slightly opened one of his eyes then both of them. Bishop set the knife back down on a nearby table.

He chuckled then said, "Of course, before I get started I'll need the other three. So how about you tell me where they are?"

"Like I'd ever tell you!" Donnie smirked.

Bishop raised an eyebrow. "Oh, won't you?"

He turned to face Emma who was a few feet away. Picking it up he began to twirl it on his index finger. He then tossed it through the air and caught the handle. He aimed it at Emma, but before she could scream the scissors had already left his hand. It clanged against the metal surface, two inches away from Emma's face.

Emma was terrified. Donnie didn't know what to do. He couldn't give Bishop directions to the Lair but he couldn't just let Emma die.  
"Now, where are Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael?" Bishop asked sternly.

"Ok, this is where the signal ended." Leo balanced on the ledge of a building that was almost in rubble.

Raph sat perched on the edge beside him. Mikey leaned on their shoulders. They all wore night vision goggles looking for any kind of clue as to where Emma and Donnie could be. Raph scanned the right side, while Leo searched the left. Mikey looked at the alleys across the street.

Raph sighed. "I don't see anything suspicious. You sure they're still here? They've probably gone somewhere else by now."

Leo replied, not even looking at Raph.

"No, I think they are still here but something is blocking the Shell cell signals. Keep looking."

"Leo, do men in black military get-ups count as suspicious?" Mikey asked.  
Leo and Raph had a puzzled look on their face. Mikey pointed to an alley right ahead with an old abandoned hardware store right across the street.

Raph put his night vision goggles back over his eyes and saw what Mikey was talking about.

"These bimbos are idiots if they think standing out in the open, guarding an abandoned building won't seem strange." Raph smirked.

Leo crouched down next to Raph to see the group of soldiers.

"Hmm, there's about a dozen of them. Something really odd is going on. You guys thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

Raph nodded. "Yeah."

"That marshmallows and chocolate ice-cream would make excellent pizza toppings?!" Mikey smiled.

"What is goin' on in that head of yours? I'm talking about the building across the street and how Donnie and Emma could be there." Leo stated.

"Oh, right, I knew that!"

Raph just rolled his eyes. Leo gathered Raph and Mikey round to give out the plan. He went through even the smallest details of what to do. The plan seemed foolproof. They were to sneak in, see if Don and Emma were there, and get out.  
"Ok, any questions? Get it?" Leo asked.

"Got it." Raph replied.

"Good."  
It was silent for a second until Mikey cluelessly said, "Uh, I don't get it"

Raph faced palmed and Leo sighed loudly.  
"Never mind, let's just get going." Leo ordered.

They jumped off the roof and snuck up on two soldiers guarding the entrance of the alley. Raph took care of them by slamming their heads together, and dragging them behind a dumpster.

Another two guards were walking towards him, but Mikey bopped them on the head with his nunchucks. Leo tied one up that was by the door. They were careful not to be seen by the others. Leo turned the knob on the door. It was unlocked so they crept in.

It was just an ordinary store inside, nothing special. The shelves were bare, except for a layer of dust covering them, along with the check out counter. There were cobwebs everywhere.

Mikey chuckled. "Woah, talk about spider city!" He sneezed several times.

The Turtles were confused.

Why were the soldiers guarding an empty abandoned store? They thought.

They split up and searched the small store. Leo checked the cashier counter, Raph looked around the aisles, and Mikey looked in the storage room.

Once Mikey looked in the room, he turned to Leo.

"Uh, bro? This is the craziest storage room I've ever seen."

Mikey's brothers walked over, curious to see what he was talking about. The storage room was, in fact, an elevator that only had one direction ... Down. They all shrugged and went in. Leo clicked the button with a arrow pointing down.  
"This is like totally embarrassing! Us, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, taking an elevator?" Mikey complained.

"Hey, as long as nobody sees us then our image for our fans is fine." Raph said sarcastically.

"You wish we had fans!" Leo retorted.

"Dudes, have you ever thought of what it would be like to have people think of us as heroes! We'd be famous! Just think, a mansion and no more sewer tunnels! ... No more hiding! ... And chicks!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Yeah, along with Shredder knowing where we live, as well as our other evil friends, and worse ... News reporters!" Raph replied.

"Guys, enough fantasizing. It'll never happen so why bother ... Although, having my own fan club sounds pretty cool." Leo said.

"What if we had our own T.V. series!" Mickey yelled excitedly.

"Ok, now you're going overboard." Raph said.

The elevator came to a halt. As the door opened Leo, Raph, and Mikey clung to the elevator ceiling, making sure no one was waiting outside before they jumped out.

The halls were lit with small light bulbs protected with wire around them. There were two doors along the sides, one to their left and one up ahead to their right. The hall looked like it kept on going for miles.

They carefully looked around for cameras. Leo saw one above the elevator doors. He cut the thin red wire protruding from it's lens and stand.

The security probably wouldn't notice for approximately five minutes, Leo guessed.

They had to be quick. They made their way down the narrow hallway.

Bishop was inches away from Donnie's face. He was furious. Donnie wouldn't give up the location of the Lair. It was his home. Bishop was gonna kill him and Emma even if he gave him the directions. He couldn't risk his brothers being captured or his father, Master Splinter.

Bishop had his forearm resting against Donnie's throat, snarling at him. "Where ... Are ... Your... Brothers! Tell me!" He shouted.

It was hard for Donnie to swallow; because of Bishop's arm on him. Emma watched on in horrified silence. She couldn't help Donnie. She was utterly useless. Donnie hadn't shown any fear whatsoever towards Bishop's threats.

Why am I so stinkin' useless! She wanted to scream aloud.

Bishop backed off of Donnie, knowing that he wouldn't talk. "You think I was kidding about killing your girlfriend here? I assure you that I am not!"  
He picked up the knife on the table and held it up to Emma's throat.

"Woah, Déjà vu." Emma said.

"You going to tell me or should I end her miserable existence right here, right now?!" Bishop pressed the knife closer against Emma's skin.

Cold sweat dripped from Donnie's brow. "You wouldn't kill her. You know why? Because you'd be wasting 'precious' mutagen." He replied calmly.

"Ha! There's more where this comes from. I don't need her to get it. I've got you." Bishop stated.

Donnie was about to say something back when an alarm went off. Red lights started flashing in the room.

A deep robotic voice sounded out "intruder alert! Intruder alert! All personnel perform lock down procedures."

A man came running through the big metal doors. He was wearing a lab coat and carrying a gun in his hands. Emma recognized the gun. It was the same dart gun as the soldiers that attacked them had. The man whispered a few words in Bishop's ear.

Bishop pulled away from Emma then smiled. "Looks like I won't need your help locating your brothers after all, Donatello."  
With that he rushed out the room with the other man behind him. The metal doors slammed shut. Donnie struggled to free himself once more. He stared at the metallic clamps. There was a small gap between the table and the bonds around his wrists. An idea formed in his head.

He turned to Emma. The pair of scissors that Bishop threw was still sticking out of the table by her head.

"Emma, can you reach the scissors?"

"I think so. Why?" She asked.

"If you can somehow toss them to me, I can wedge it in the metal bonds and get free."

"Right." Emma turned her head towards the scissors.

How am I gonna get it over to Donnie? Oh, wait!

Emma grabbed the scissors with her teeth, trying to loosen it from the table. Little by little it came out. She jerked her head and the scissors came free. She lost her grip on them and they fell.

"Eep!" She squealed.  
She managed to catch and balance them on her foot. Donnie let out a sigh of relief.  
Emma's work wasn't done yet she still had to toss them over to Donnie and hope that he could catch them. She carefully lifted her foot and swung the scissors over to Donnie. He caught them with one finger. They both smiled at each other.

"Ok, now for the easy part." He said.  
He gripped the scissors tightly as he tried wedging one side in the metal clamp around his right wrist. He snuck his tongue out a bit, concentrating on breaking the bond around his hand. The bond broke off finally after a minute of fidgeting with it. His right arm was free!

He worked on the next and then reached down to do the ones around his ankles. He got down from the table he was strapped to.  
"Ah, legs asleep! ... Ow ow ... Oh man, leg cramp!" He said as he hopped on his right foot and held right.

Emma giggled but then said, "Bishop could be back at any time. Hurry and get me loose!"

"Yeah, I'm on it." He replied and broke Emma's bonds.

As Emma got down and tried to stand, her legs gave out. They felt like jello. She fell forwards on Donnie. He caught her.  
"You alright?"

"Yes, sorry. My legs fell asleep."

"Not so funny when it happens to you, is it?"  
He continued to hold onto her.

Emma smiled then blushed. "Um, you can let go of me now. I can stand."

Donnie laughed awkwardly. "Oh, heh, sorry. Let's get those doors open so we can get the shell outta here!"  
He ran over to the metal doors. He tried pulling them open but they wouldn't budge. There was a control panel to his left. A red light flashed on it.  
"Locked." He said disappointedly. He cracked his knuckles. "Well, nothing I can't handle!"

He hit a few buttons on it. Emma silently cheered him on. The control panel flashed a green light. It was unlocked!  
They opened the doors and peeked into the hallway. Nobody was there.  
"Coast is clear. Come on." Donnie declared.

Emma followed closely behind him constantly looking over her shoulder for Bishop or his soldiers. They heard voices around the corner. Donnie pressed his back against the wall. Emma did the same.

Donnie whispered in Emma's ear.  
"I can only hear three voices. Stay close. I'll take care of these guys."

Emma nodded. Donnie leapt around the corner and faced the three men. He made a striking pose but then realized that it was Leo, Raph, and Mikey.  
"Guys!" Emma yelled and ran over to them, giving them all hugs.

"Emma?! Donnie?!" Leo said surprised.

"Oh, almost jumped outta my shell!" Mikey sighed with relief.

"What took you three so long to find us?!" Donnie asked.

"Well, heroes are always fashionably late, ya know." Mikey stated.

"You two alright?" Leo was concerned. He saw how beaten up they were. He wondered what all happened to them.

"A little bruised but nothing serious." Donnie answered.

"Thanks for coming to save us!" Emma thanked Leo, Raph, and Mikey.

"It's all part of the service, Rescue R' Us." Leo joked.

Raph handed over Donnie's bo staff and his Shell cell, as well as Emma's.

"Here, I found these in a storage closet."

Emma and Donnie both nodded thank-you. They heard men coming down the hall to their right. They were closing in fast.

Leo ran to the left followed by Raph, Mikey, Emma, and Donnie behind him. Leo looked back but couldn't see any soldiers. He saw a door and plunged through it. Everyone burst into the room and Raph closed the door. The men ran past.

He laughed quietly. "Heh, suckers."

They stood there catching their breaths. Emma turned around and was shocked at what she saw. The room was big and had many computer screens on the far wall opposite of her. On the left wall there were photos of the Turtles!

Emma, her mouth open, walked slowly over to the wall of pictures. The photos were small, but there were at least a hundred of them. Every picture was of Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie.  
Emma tapped Leo's arm, not looking away from the wall. "Leo, look at this!"

Leo turned and saw what she was talking about, as did his brothers.

"What ... The ... Shell?!" He said.

Raph shook his head and came closer to the pictures. He picked one from the board it was on. "Jeez, these guys stalk much?!"

"They've been watching us?!" Donnie shook his head in complete shock and surprise. 

"Leo, you did say you wanted a fan club." Mikey stated. 

"Yeah, but this is ridiculous!" Leo replied. "They don't seem to have any pictures of our Lair." 

"Leo's, right. I don't see any with the Lair in it. Or Master Splinter for that matter. Maybe they don't know where our hideout is?" Emma said. 

"That's good news, but how in the world did they get all these? How long have they been watching us?!" Donnie asked. 

"These geekizoids are worse than fangirls!... If we had any." Mikey said. 

"Mikey, stop fooling around. This is serious." Leo ordered. 

Donnie was really quiet, just staring at the photos. Emma stood next to him as he plucked a photo from a big wad of them on the board.

He brought it close to his face examining it. "Leo?" 

Leo stopped bickering with Mikey then said to Donnie, "What?" 

"Check this out." 

Leo ran over to Donnie and looked at the picture. "Is that ..." He began. 

"It's us ... Before we were mutated." Donnie finished.

Everyone squeezed together to get a look at the photo Donnie had in his hand. Sure enough, there were four small turtles in a clear tank.

Leo shook his head in disbelief.  
"No, it can't ... We weren't test subjects, I'm sure of it! Master Splinter told us that we were a boy's pets, dropped down into the sewers, and mutated by the ooze. Those are different turtles." 

"Wrong, Leo, look. Mikey has a birthmark on his shell, the same mark on the turtle in this photograph." Donnie pointed out. 

Mikey turned around and pointed to his birthmark. It was the exact same one as in the picture, just like Donnie said. "I'd know that mark anywhere! It's me. Boy, was I ever cute! Look at my tiny feet." 

"Hold it! If this is us and we were test subjects before being mutated in the sewers, then why were we with a boy in a glass jar? Somethin's fishy here." Raph said. 

"I agree with Raph. Why were we at a pet store? Ok, so we were experiments - we had to be in some sort of lab, but how did we end up in a shop? I hate to say it but I don't think Master Splinter is telling us everything. He said he witnessed a boy dropping us through a storm drain, now I'm not so sure." Donnie said. 

"Are you doubting what Master Splinter has told us?!" Leo sounded furious. 

"No, I'm ... Just thinking out loud, that's all." 

Emma listened intensively but she faded into her own thoughts when she saw a familiar face in a photo on the wall. She reached up and ripped it off the board. Her head spun with confusion, questioning everything she knew.  
Raph watched Emma as she stood there, gripping the picture tightly in her hand.

He nudged her with his elbow. "Watcha got there?"

He then looked at the photo. There were two people, a woman and a man, dressed in white lab coats with TCRI printed on them. The woman had dark brown curly hair to her shoulders, and green eyes. The man had sandy blond hair, neatly cut, with brown eyes.

"This isn't real!" Emma repeated over and over, not even paying attention to Raph.


	13. Cold, Hard Truth!

Emma sunk to the floor. She just stared at the picture in her hand. The man and woman in the photo were smiling as if they were happy with what they were doing.

_My parents ... Surely this isn't real?! My mom and dad would never work for TCRI or the Kraang. This isn't true! It can't be true!_

Her head was spinning with tons of questions. _How could they work for someone so evil? How could they possibly stand by and let other humans be mutated? _

She sat there dazed.

Raph waved a hand in front of her. He could see that she was upset and on the verge of tears. He nudged her softly with his elbow. "Hey, earth to Emma. Watcha got there?"

Emma, without looking up at him, gave him the picture she was holding. Raph took it and examined the photo for a few minutes. There was a man and woman dressed in white lab coats with TCRI printed on it.

The woman had brown curly hair to her shoulders with green eyes. She was young and beautiful. The man young looking too, with his sandy blond hair neatly cut, and dark brown eyes.

Raph looked back down at Emma. "You know these people or somethin'?"

"The people are my mom and dad. They work for the Kraang! They worked for the same stupid alien robots that mutated me into a freak mutant like you!"

Emma was angry, but realized what she had said was wrong even if it was true.

She looked up at Raph. He was just staring at her. "Raph, I didn't mean ..."

Raph hauled her up to her feet then grabbed both of her shoulders. He peered into her eyes, then spoke with a mad but hurt voice. "You know what, I'm tired of your lousy, sulking attitude! You go moaning and groaning around ALL the time! It's driving me crazy! You smile and act cute but the cold hard truth is, you are furious at the world for what happened to you. I don't care if your parents are dead, this has got to stop!"

Leo pulled on Raph's right arm. "Woah, Raph. Ease off!" He ordered.

Raph shrugged him off and continued what he was saying.

"You really think you are the only one with problems? Well, I got news for ya, we've all got problems! Here's three words for ya, suck it up! Me and my bros don't WANT to look like this, we want to have a normal life like everyone else but that ain't gonna happen. You know why? Because we have a responsibility to save the world every freakin' night. If we don't, who will?! Stop sulking and move on already! If you are gonna be apart of this team, you gotta get over the fact that your parents are gone ... They ain't comin' back."

Emma tried to hold back tears. She didn't take her eyes off of Raph. She nodded really fast. He let her go then backed away. "Good. You remember that."

Emma hated to admit it but he was right; she was sulking. She did have to somehow get over it. Leo, Mikey, and Donnie watched on in total silence.  
"Awkward." Mikey said in a high pitched voice, breaking the silence in the room.

Donnie avoided Emma's gaze. "That was ... Intense."

Leo glared at Raph. He shook his head, disapproving of what Raph had said to Emma.  
Emma rubbed her left arm. Raph had frightened her a bit by shouting those things to her.

It went all quiet again. Raph had dropped the picture of Emma's parents by Leo's foot. Leo picked it up. He recognized the photo - it was the same one he had found at Emma's Uncle's apartment.

_Interesting_. He thought.

He set it down on a table to his right. "We should really get going. I don't hear the alarm anymore which means they're up to something, so let's move."

Everyone turned to leave when three soldiers burst through the door. The aimed their guns at them. Leo gave a signal to be ready to fight. Someone else came through the door behind the three men that were armed. The man was Bishop!  
"You've got to be kidding! See, this is what happens when we waste time talking." Leo said

"Oh no! It's the mad scientist dude and his three pet rats!" Mikey exclaimed.

Bishop smiled and put his hands on his hips. "You turtles aren't going anywhere! Now, put down your weapons and surrender!"

"What do you think guys? Do we surrender? Or do kick some shell?!" Leo smirked.

Raph pulled out his sais, and chuckled. "Heck yeah. I've been itchin' for a fight since we got here!"

"Woo, BOOYAKASHA!" Mikey yelled out.

"Careful, remember what happened the last time we challenged Bishop." Donnie warned.

"Dude, he seriously whooped us!" Mikey said.

"That's not gonna happen again. Focus on what Splinter taught us. Use shadows and deception to gain advantage." Leo reminded them.

Emma stayed silent but readied herself to fight.

The three men were about to start shooting those awful darts at them, but Leo ran over and cut the barrels of the guns with his katana. The men panicked, shaking their guns trying to get them to shoot.

Donnie whacked them behind their legs with his bow staff, making them fall backwards. Raph and Mikey jumped on them and knocked them out. Bishop was the only one left.

Emma was ashamed that she was so useless in combat. True she was still in basic training, but that doesn't mean she can't do anything to help.

She came to stand next to Leo, who was aiming his katana at Bishop's chest. "It's over, Bishop. Let us go and we might just go easy on ya."

"Ha, who says it's over? I haven't even started yet!" Bishop bellowed.  
He did a sweeping kick on Leo's legs. Leo fell over but, was caught by Emma. She was helping him to his feet but Bishop kicked her out of the way. Emma flew into a wall. She was put in a daze.

Emma got to her feet, putting a hand to the back of her head. She watched as Raph and Donnie attacked Bishop together. Raph jumped through the air, sais aimed at Bishop's head, and Donnie ducked down and hit Bishop in the face.

Bishop was on the ground, but not for long. He rolled to the side, before Raph could land a hit on him, and flipped to stand up. He then used his elbow to push Raph on the ground.

Mikey leapt into the fray to save Raph. He slammed his nunchucks into Bishop's stomach. That didn't even phase Bishop, as he punched Mikey in the face sending him flying.

Emma decided to attack him next. She hopped from side to side trying to confuse Bishop of where she would attack him. She acted like she was going to jump into the air but then at the last moment got down and kicked him in the shins. He cried out in pain but then went for her neck. He gripped her neck with one hand and pinned her against the wall behind him. He then pulled out a knife and put against her skin. Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie stopped dead in their tracks.  
"This crazy guy and his sharp tools, I tell ya!" Mikey said.

"Lay down your weapons or Emma here gets it." Bishop ordered.

Emma couldn't stand it any longer. She was the weakest link, but not this time. She raised her knee and knocked the knife out of Bishop's hand, before he had time to react. She lunged at him and pinned him on the ground, her elbow against his neck.

"How do you like it you creep!" She said.

Leo walked over to help her. He dragged Bishop up to look him in the eye.

"Don't you ever try hurting her again, or we'll personally hunt you down! You got that?!"

Bishop looked shaken up but tried not losing his cool. Leo slammed the side of his hand into The back of Bishop's neck. It knocked him out instantly. Leo let Bishop fall to the floor.  
"Way to go, Emma!" Mikey cheered.

"That's one way to use deception." Donnie stated.

"We should probably get going. I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat." Emma said.

Together they snuck out the building and back into the sewers, hoping to never hear from or see the man known as Bishop ever again. Little did they know that something even bigger was to come.

-

Back At The Lair.

Emma was hanging out in her room. She checked herself for any major wounds. There wasn't anything but a bunch of bruises and small cuts, but Donnie insisted that she check to make sure. She lied there on her bed completely exhausted, when she heard a knock on her door.

She sat up and called out. "Come in."

The door opened. Leo, Mikey, and Donnie were standing there.  
"What's up, guys?" She asked.

"Well, Raph would like to say something to ya." Leo said as he pulled Raph from behind the door post.

"Alright, alright, let go already. Sheesh." Raph frowned.

He folded his arms then without looking at Emma said, "I'm .. Sorry. There, happy now?!"

"Dude, ya gotta say it to her face! Or are ya chicken?!" Mikey teased.

"Guys, is he really blushing?! I think he's actually blushing!" Donnie joked.

Raph yanked Donnie's bandana. "Or maybe I'm mistaken." Donnie said. "Ow, mercy!"

Raph let go then turned to Emma. "Look, I'm ... Sorry, you know, about before."

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I didn't mean what I said about you guys being freak mutants. I was upset that my parents were working for TCRI. It was wrong of me to take my anger out on you. I'm just so confused by what my mom and dad were thinking. They blindly followed the Kraang."

Leo was the one who spoke next. "Maybe it's not what you think. They probably didn't know who they were working for. Kraang use disguises. Your parents could have been working for them without knowing why."

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up, but I don't think they were clueless about the Kraang."

"If you want, we're about to watch a movie, you can join us." Leo said.

"Yeah, I'll be down in a sec." Emma said.

They turned to leave but Emma grabbed Raph's arm. "Hey, Raph?"

He looked at her then asked. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for waking me up to reality back at Bishop's base. I really needed that. And you were right, I was pouting."

"Someone needed to tell ya. There's plenty more where that came from so enough with the sulking." He smiled.

"Now, come on, we're gonna miss the movie!" He said as he ran down the hall. Emma shrugged and followed him.  
They all watched the movie together. Emma was glad to finally have some good friends to stick up for her and give her the advice she so very badly needed. She knew that whatever was to come their way, they would handle it together. Nothing would tear them apart.


End file.
